We are students of IIT Delhi who have recently received the notification that we all need to report on campus to appear for major examinations since we agree to onboard at one stage or another. We stand by institute's push for offline examinations that are geared towards the transition back to normal; however, we have several concerns that we think have not been addressed by the administration in the current setup. We believe the current policy is logistically harsh, non-uniform and even unfair in some cases. We should not have to suffer simply because we chose to onboard. 

1. Not everyone has onboarded, which means there is a substantial number of people who would still be taking exams from the comfort of their homes. We cannot have this for the same reason we don't have 50% students taking JEE at home and the rest being called to exam centres. Further, examination environment is important and this disparity in and of itself creates a non-uniformity that is unfair. 

2. We have received the notification of offline majors on a very short notice, by the time most people had either offboarded or booked tickets home. We don't see why the institute did not plan this earlier and why and how it is fair to ask offboarded students to book expensive tickets on a short notice to travel from all over India and onboard again when they should really be preparing for exams. This, especially when people who didn't onboard aren't expected to do the same. 

While this sums up our major concerns, there are further queries we demand answers to.

According to mails, everyone needs to report by 10th November. Would these kids be quarantined again? If they won't be, doesn't that expose the campus to risks? Further, if they would be, then is it really fair to the kids to have to be quarantined in their rooms right before exams instead of being allowed to say, use the library? 

Secondly, we have received mails where Dean (Academics) has asserted that students in the list who do not travel back cannot take the majors right now, and may have to take remajors/may not pass courses this semester on refusal to come back. Why does this not apply to students who did not onboard?

If it is fair to expect offboarded students to travel all the way and come back, why isn't it fair to expect everyone else to do the same? 

If 50% of us can be allowed to take it online in the comfort of our rooms, is it fair to force the remaining 50% of us to take it in stressful exam halls? 

If minors could be conducted with everyone taking it online in their rooms, why can't majors be conducted the same way? Secondly, if taking exams offline is that crucial, why not wait for everyone to onboard and then take exams? 

We demand a uniform and fair policy that addresses the concerns of all. We believe that if the institute is willing to go to this extent to push for offline examinations, they postpone the majors and let everyone onboard. This would provide everyone the time and space to prepare accordingly and come to campus, and address all of our aforementioned concerns. We also realise that postponement of majors may not be possible in some cases, in which case we believe it is imperative we stick with a uniform policy i.e. proctored online exams for everyone, no matter where they are, as it happened during minors. 

If the aforementioned concerns are not addressed, we see a certain section of students facing institutional neglect and having strenuous academic policies being shoved down their throat on a short notice. This is not conducive for their mental health, not to mention the lack of regard for their health (COVID concerns) and finances (expensive tickets). We reiterate that we stand by offline examinations and the push to return to normal, but only if it is fair and uniform for all, taking everyone's situation and circumstances into account.