Delhi University to conduct practical exams, viva voce for UG courses in offline mode

NEW DELHI: The Delhi University (DU) has announced that practical examinations, viva voce, and oral exams of undergraduate courses will be conducted in the physical mode by "strictly adhering" to Covid guidelines. There has been a surge in the number of Covid cases in Delhi lately. The city logged 1,109 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 5.87 per cent and one fatality on Wednesday. Delhi had reported less than 1,000 single-day infections on Monday and Tuesday.

DU's Examination Branch on Wednesday issued a notification entailing the procedure that needs to be followed to conduct internal assessments, practicals, viva voce, projects, oral examinations, apprenticeships, internships and fieldwork. The university said internal assessment will carry 25 per cent weightage and semester examination 75 per cent weightage. "The distribution of internal assessment marks shall be as follows: Attendance (lectures including interactive periods and tutorials) (5 per cent) written assignments/tutorials/project reports/ seminars (10 per cent) and class test(s)/quiz(s) (10 per cent)," the notification read.

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The varsity also announced that all the internships and evaluations of dissertations will be conducted in the physical mode. "Based on the practical syllabus, the practical for the under graduate shall be conducted in the physical mode by strictly adhering to Covid guidelines. Practical and viva voce, oral (moot courts) examinations (wherever applicable); all such examinations shall be conducted in the physical mode by strictly adhering to Covid guidelines," the notification said.

Delhi has reported a few cases of BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron, which are highly transmissible, but experts have said that there is no need to panic as they don't cause severe infection. The DU had reopened for in-person classes on February 17 after remaining shut for two years. The university was shut down in March 2020 after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person practical sessions for third-year students had resumed last year, but the university was shut again because of the spike in the number of Covid cases in December.