New Delhi: Delhi University has inculcated a distinct and phenomenal change in student selection and admission criteria as the new Semester commenced on November 2, 2022. The change is as follows: The usual Class XII Board exam results and percentages will be obsolete. Instead, the scores gained in the Central University Entrance Test will decide the admission and career for the student community.
In the previous year (2021), a total of 146 students were admitted to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in Political Science programme at the Hindu College (affiliated with Delhi University) after two cut-off lists. 124 students
were from state school boards, three from Rajasthan and 120 from Kerela Board.
In 2022, the second round of allocation of seats is still underway. The course (Political Science) has a sanctioned strength of 49 Seats. The Indian Express has stated that the first cut-off lists were reserved for 100% (Best of four subjects). The programme received a total of 102 applications, out of which 101 were from Kerela Board.
The Central University Entrance Test (CUET) has been adopted in the present year The test score, along with their college preferences, will determine their future. According to a Professor in the Political Science Department of the Hindu College, the majority of students admitted come from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and CISCE. The admission for unreserved seats has CUET scores in the range of 795/800 to 800/800. The situation in Ramjas College is the same. According to Govind, the Working Secretary of Maithry, a Kerala-based student union in DU stated that fewer students from the state have approached them with admission queries this year. This could be because it is the first year of CUET.
This is the first time that CUET has been enforced into action, many students were not prepared for it and they lacked the valuable time to get ready to adapt to this new change. The CUET is based on NCERT Syllabus. (National Council of Education Research and Training) which is the curriculum followed by the CBSE Schools. It is quite different from the State Board Syllabus. As a result of which, students have to prepare for it separately.
The number of Students from the Kerela Board is much low, especially in the North Campus Colleges. Only a handful of queries have been received. After the last year’s admission process, a relative change and shift to an entrance-based examination emerged after Delhi University flagged unequal admission opportunities to students from other boards. The panel has noticed some disparities as well.
Last year, a statement by Professor Rakesh Kumar Pandey, who teaches physics at Delhi University, triggered a huge controversy as he referred to the phenomenon of the Kerala Board giving 100 per cent marks to students in Class 12 as “Marks Jihad”. Prof Pandey called it a “conscious and well-planned conspiracy to propagate Marxist ideology”. A Chennai-based student had also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the excessive admission of students from the Kerala Board.
The Kerela Board students have got an average Class XII (98.43%) followed by Rajasthan Board (94.68%), Haryana Board (92.6%), CISCE (92.33%) and CBSE (91.3%). The panel suggsted that a common entrance
exam be held either by the university or by an external agency.
Earlier this year, the Indian Express spoke to 103 out of 114 students who scored a percentile of 100% in at
least four CUET papers, only one was from the Jamia Millia Islamia school board. The remainder were from
CBSE and CISE boards.
