DU to offer students who couldn't complete their degree chance to do so

Delhi University (DU) will now give a "centenary" chance to students who could not complete their degree for some reason to return to the university and take their exams. A proposal for this was approved at a special Executive Council meeting held here on January 28 to discuss the centenary celebrations of the university.

The celebrations to mark DU's centenary year will begin from May 1 and will see year-long events planned by the university which will continue till May 1, 2023. "The Executive Council has approved the proposal. We are calling it a 'centenary' chance. Students who could not complete their degree for some reason can come and give their papers and earn their degree from the university," DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh says.

Explaining the details, he said two chances would be given to such students between May 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023 – the first being around September and October, and the second, somewhere around March – wherein they can take their examinations.

"There will be separate registration for them, and students who could not take two-three papers can sit for their exams," Singh said. Professor D S Rawat, Dean of Examinations, has been tasked with working out the modalities of the initiative, he added. According to Executive Council member Rajpal Singh Panwar, there was a discussion on this aspect in the special meeting held in the last week of January.

"There was a discussion on the fact that now the papers are held under the semester system. Earlier, the semester system was not there. Also, the syllabus has changed, and even some teachers are not there. We can do it for those students who have been at DU in the last four-five years," Panwar said.

He said something similar was done in 2012, and there was a discussion that maybe the backlog from 2012 could be cleared, but there could be some issues. "It doesn't mean that someone who left the course in their first year will be able to complete their remaining two years through this. It is for those who could not take a couple of papers, and they will be given one chance to take those exams again," he said. The Delhi University has allocated Rs 10 crore for its centenary year celebrations and has plans to bring out a coffee table book to mark the occasion.