3 min readNew DelhiJul 25, 2020 10:43 AM IST
First published on: Jul 25, 2020 at 03:41 AM IST
The OBE exam was postponed twice. (Archive)
The repeated postponement of Delhi University’s online Open Book Examination (OBE) and the uncertainty around it has created problems for students offered placements, with many unable to join their jobs and having to negotiate with recruiters.
A B.Com (Honours) 3rd year student of Shri Ram College of Commerce was supposed to join a major consultancy firm in June.
“When the lockdown started and the OBE was first scheduled, we told our recruiters that we would join after the exams and they agreed to push back our date of joining. Now once again, the exams have been postponed for another month…,” said the student.
Read | State govt has no power to cancel final-year exams: UGC to Bombay HC
The OBEs for final-year students were scheduled to start on July 1, and were subsequently postponed to July 10. Now, they have been postponed to August 10. Normally, DU students are done with final exams in May.
For many students, however, the postponement has meant that they cannot join work even if they are willing.
“A good part of recruiters are stringent and have said that only graduates can work — so students need to have their final marksheet before they can join. We too are only being able to give them an estimated time-line for the results, so for now we’ve said mid-September,” said a representative of Hindu College’s placement cell.
Read | Maharashtra: College admissions start online, confusion on Day 1
A representative from Miranda House’s placement cell said some recruiters have redrawn their joining timelines. “One of our recruiters hires graduates for teaching and they are taken to Gujarat. Since that is not feasible, they have now pushed joining to December/ January and have signed MoUs with the recruits stating that they may work with other organisations till that time,” she said.
She added that while the joining process has been pushed back, recruitment has not come to a stop. “Pay packages have reduced — from an average of Rs 8-Rs 10 lakh per annum to Rs 6-Rs 8 lakh per annum. We don’t have high-end companies and high-profile positions approaching us right now but recruitment is still on through the lockdown with smaller companies,” she said.
The Hindu College representative, however, said the delays are impacting the next placement cycle. “Thankfully, most of our recruiters are from finance and consulting, so they haven’t been hard hit enough to revoke offers. However, one issue that is emerging is that we are not being able to start a new cycle of recruitment with firms which have not been able to honour their existing offers. This will impact the batch of 2021,” he said.
The OBE exam was postponed twice. (Archive)
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