IIT Delhi Adopts Stress-Reducing Evaluation System, Scraps Mid-Semester Tests

Hyderabad: The Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi on Sunday announced a new evaluation system, dropping mid-semester tests to reduce stress on students,” said IIT-D director Prof. Rangan Banerjee. The decision comes after a series of suicides of students where academic pressure has been cited as a triggering cause.

“We used to have two sets of exams during a semester, final exams at the end of each semester and several continuous evaluation mechanisms. We conducted an internal survey and based on feedback from all students and faculty, we have decided to drop one set of exams. Now there will be two sets of exams besides routine evaluations,” Banerjee said.

A maximum cap of 80 per cent weightage has been kept for the two examinations, he added.

The news brought hope among students who hoped more such initiatives would be taken in their universities. Rajita Kaapuri, a BTech student, said that multiple semesters with not the best weightage can prove to be tedious. "There are two internals and then an external, barely any break then a couple of weeks later another set of internal exams. If a decision even on internals are made, it would bring a lot of relief to us," she told DC.

Shashidhar, a student of IIT-Hyderabad, said that though academics at IIT-H was designed to ensure it's not burdensome on the students, the newly implemented attendance policy has worsened their stress.  

"Our course is split into three parts, so students can choose a few credits — it's dependent on professors who give us assignments, quizzes, projects to implement research papers, etc., for evaluation. But the compulsory 85 per cent attendance that wasn't there before has troubled many. It holds about 10 per cent weightage that stressed many. The announcement wasn't even official, just informed to us by our professors," he informed.

Another student from IIT-H said that improvements and supplementary were recently removed much to disappointment of students. "We have course additionals which we can convert to departmental core theory. Even if it's less, we can choose that the grades won't be counted in our final CGPA. Now that such a structure has been removed, we hope it will be replaced by a better one, taking inspiration from Delhi," he told Deccan Chronicle.

Mohan Ratan Paul from Osmania University seconded the IIT-H students in saying that apart from fewer exams and flexible courses, other means such as attendance and assignments add an unnecessary burden on students. "It's not always about exams, there are other factors that stress students out and they need to be discussed and acted upon," he said.