NFB says DU’s OBE Scheme is “Insensitive” towards the blind and other disabled students 

The National Federation of Blind (NFB) has recently announced that Delhi University’s (DU) Open Book Examination (OBE) scheme is “against the principle of equality”. 

NFB has put forward a demand that the promotion of visually-challenged students of Delhi University should be on the basis of their past academic performance and have moved Delhi High Court on the matter.

Delhi University had previously declared open book exams for final-year students on and the decision was widely met by resistance and protest by students and faculty members alike. Students with disabilities have been struggling with online lectures. NFB is now part of the protest against the OBE Scheme put forward by DU.

NFG suggests that the decision of the university to conduct OBE is  “insensitive” and unfair toward the visually challenged students and. A statement issued by the federation suggests that the decision has also completely overlooked the fact that the blind and some other students with disabilities would require a scribe to write their exam which is not an option during the current scenario due to social distancing norms to prevent the transmission of Covid19.

DU had canceled all offline examinations for all students to prevent further spread of the disease. The university had announced that OBE would be conducted in July. Many of the students had also traveled to their hometowns to stay with their families during the lockdown.