DU Hindi department student protest low marks

Upset over alleged tight marking leading to low scores, over 1,000 students of Delhi University’s Hindi Department are protesting outside their classrooms since Monday.

Students have asked the university authority to re-evaluate their test papers free of cost. Rechecking costs Rs 1,000 per paper, as per the DU norms.

“We threaten to go on a hunger strike if the authorities do not listen to us,” Anil Mehta said, as his fellow protesters recited poems of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar – an eminent Hindi poet known for his patriotic compositions.

A second-year postgrad student, Surbhi Sharma, alleged that many students who scored above 60 per cent last semester have slumped below 55 per cent.

The results were announced on January 29, she said.
“Fee is refunded in case there is an increase in the marks. So I fail to see a reason behind them bunking their classes. Students will be losing out on the attendance if they continue to disrupt classes,” a professor at the DU department said.

30 pc above
More than 30 per cent of the students have scored above 55 per cent in the recently held first semester exams, according to the department.  

Surbhi argues that low scores may cost students their dreams of pursuing degrees in research.
“Students are required to score above 55 per cent for admission in MPhil courses,” she said.
But there are some students who say that the alleged tight marking for language students is no new problem.

“It has been going around for almost 20 years now. We are being given way less marks than students from other universities,” Pankaj Diwakar said, claiming that students from other universities have advantage over them when it comes to securing admission in DU’s research programmes.

“Both first and second year students are protesting over this issue, but we have received no assurance,” Diwakar told DH.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Dean of Student Welfare officials had intervened, asking students to resume their classes.