The Delhi High Court Tuesday questioned the Delhi University of its lack of readiness and facilities, including an arrangement of scribes and CSE Centers, for students with disabilities to appear in the Open Book Examinations (OBE) for final year undergraduate courses.
The high court sought to know how many students in the Persons with Disabilities category have applied to take exams through Common Service (CSE) Centers, which have been set up to provide services to students who do not have the infrastructure to give OBE.
However, the university was unable to respond to the query and sought time to get the details.
“This is how you are concerned for students with disabilities career who have to appear for final-year exams. The UGC’s own guidelines which makes it mandatory to conduct examinations for final year students. We are aware that the challenge to UGC guidelines is before the Supreme Court. But we will surely ask questions about your preparedness for the exams,” a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said.
The high court was hearing pleas by law student Prateek Sharma and National Federation of Blind seeking to set up effective mechanisms for students who are blind and persons with disabilities so that educational instructions can be transmitted to them properly and teaching material is provided to them through online mode of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am sure DU is cognisant of the fact that the career of students is at stake, how can you be so slow,” Justice Kohli asked the university.
The high court further sought to know whether the claim of petitioners that students with disabilities are not being given reading material, assistant devices and writing scribes, is true.
