Delhi University (DU) has shelved its decision to hold online entrance examination for its M.Phil, Ph.D and PG programmes as it feels that conducting these along with the offline format won’t be feasible.
In a meeting held on May 19, the Standing Committee for Admissions had given approval for holding both online and offline exams for the programmes. The move had attracted criticism from student circles, including the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) and the ABVP, who claimed that the online test could hurt the chances of students from rural areas.
The decision to stick to offline pattern was taken after the panel held a meeting on Saturday and concluded that the dual mode was “unfeasible”. Samrendra Kumar, a member of the panel, confirmed that the online examination would be done away with for this year.
The offline exams would be held in six major centres across the country. They will be held in Delhi, Kolkata, Varanasi, Guwahati and Nagpur while in South India, the centre would either be in Bangalore or Chennai.
“We demanded one centre in Patna or Ranchi since many applicants come from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh region but this was not agreed upon,” Mr. Kumar said.
Registrations for entrance-based courses, PG, M.Phil and Ph.D programmes, will begin on May 31.
Student protest
Delhi University students’ unions had been staging on campus demanding offline exams for the programmes. The hunger strike was called off at 6 p.m. on Friday after the standing committee announced its decision.
Vice-president of DUSU Priyanka Chhawri said that they will meet the Vice-Chancellor on May 31. “The university administration’s decision indicates that we protested for the right cause,” she said.
