PhD students of DU's chemistry department demand holding of online exams in view of Omicron

NEW DELHI: Over 40 PhD students of the Delhi University's (DU) Chemistry department have written to the head of the department, urging him not hold offline exams in view of the new variant of the coronavirus.

In the letter, the students said if online exams are not possible, the department could consider extending the date by a week. They said many students are not present in the campus and many are "not feeling comfortable" to write offline exams due to the new variant of COVID-19.

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Chemistry department head Professor Sunil Sharma said the PhD students have been coming to the campus for laboratory work and that is why the department has decided to hold offline exams.

"We have received their letter and told them that online exams will not be possible, but we can consider extending the date by a week," Sharma told PTI. The exams are supposed to commence from December 10.

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Meanwhile, online open book examinations of Delhi University commenced on Tuesday with nearly 46,000 students appearing in the tests, officials said. The examinations went smoothly barring a few technical glitches, they said.

"Almost 46,000 students took the exams and there were nearly 100 submissions through email which is a very small number. The maximum number of email submissions were from Rajdhani College at 63 while the minimum email submissions were from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College at one," said D S Rawat, Dean (Examinations) of the university.