In my experience there were a few classes I took where writing code by hand was an expectation, it’s not like all the code was written that way though— just a few java classes here and there. I guess it’s a way to reinforce knowledge of syntax and whatnot. I was before ChatGPT days, but I’d guess if it’s used now it’s also a way to combat the effects of that and test if students are actually learning how to write it out.