Delhi University kicked off its second semester exams on Thursday despite the Centre having declared May 28 as a holiday for Eid-ul-Zuha, prompting criticism from teachers who said the varsity decision went against India’s traditions of “inclusivity”.
The university — which closed its offices, departments and colleges for Bakrid but went ahead with the exams — said that special exams would be held on July 4 for students who skipped Thursday’s papers to participate in the festival.
Thursday’s exams — which 1.5 lakh students were to take — went ahead despite senior teachers’ association members having written to university authorities on Wednesday seeking a postponement.
The problem arose from a postponement of the official Eid holiday. The government’s original list of holidays for Delhi had notified May 27 as Eid-ul-Zuha, subject to changes depending on the sighting of the moon. This led DU to keep May 27 free of exams.
On May 22, the Centre’s department of personnel notified May 28 as the Eid holiday instead of May 27. DU decided to keep its offices close on the date but held the exams, nevertheless.
A group of DU law students had moved Delhi High Court against the holding of exams on May 28. The university pleaded its inability to reschedule the exams but offered July 4 as an alternative date for students who wished to skip Thursday’s tests. The court accepted the plea.
Some faculty members, however, cited the National Testing Agency (NTA) decision to postpone the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) papers scheduled for May 28 and argued that DU should have done the same.
Rudrashish Chakraborty, a teacher at Kirori Mal College under DU, questioned “the audacity of the DU administration in violating” a government gazette notification.
He argued the DU’s decision “underlines its desperation to show its loyalty to the Hindutva political ecosystem of the BJP-RSS rather than to the Constitution”.
Faculty members such as DU Teachers’ Association executive member Dhan Raj Meena, association secretary Bimalendu Theerthakar, and DU executive council member Rajpal Singh Pawar on Wednesday wrote to vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh seeking a postponement of the May 28 papers.
“Thousands of Muslim students, teachers, and staff members of the university will be observing the religious rituals and celebrations associated with Id-ul-Zuha,” they wrote.
The faculty members added: “Furthermore, festivals in our country are celebrated in a spirit of inclusivity and harmony across communities. Conducting examinations on such an important religious occasion may cause considerable inconvenience and distress to the concerned students.”
Chakraborty argued the May 28 papers could have been deferred to June 15, which is two days after the second-semester exams’ scheduled end on June 13.
DU controller of examinations Gurpreet Singh Tuteja told The Telegraph that rescheduling the exams was not feasible since DU had many outstation students who had to come to Delhi to sit their exams.
“Postponing the exams at the last moment would have created a difficult situation for those students,” Tuteja said.
However, it’s not clear that the outstation students go back home after every paper and travel afresh to Delhi for the next one.
Tuteja said the NTA’s May 28 papers, which the agency had rescheduled, did not compare with the DU exams, which 1.5 lakh students were to take on Thursday. He did not say how many students were scheduled to take the May 28 CUET papers
Some 15 lakh students from across India are taking the 20-day CUET.
The DU notification said students who are unable to take their May 28 exams must inform their college principal or the dean of their department about this. The schedule and venues for the July 4 papers will be notified later.