No favours, academic merit of all students valued equally: DU
NEW DELHI: The Delhi University on Thursday rejected assertions that students from a particular state board were being favoured in admissions to the undergraduate admissions, saying that the university equally values the academic credentials of all students.
In a press statement released on Thursday, DU registrar Vikas Gupta said, “The University of Delhi strongly refutes and condemns the falsity of news which is being circulated regarding favouring candidates from a few boards.”
The university’s statement comes a day after the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on Wednesday alleged that top scorers from the Kerala state board were being denied admission on flimsy grounds by various Delhi University colleges in a controversy that erupted amid condemnation of a physics professor from Kirori Mal College who coined a communally sensitive and derogatory term -“marks jihad” -- to contend that students from the state were being given higher marks in Class 12 so that they could systematically take over the country’s top higher education institutes.
In the statement, the Registrar said, “DU equally and uniformly values the academic credentials of all the candidates irrespective of their States and School Boards. This year too, equal opportunity was maintained by accepting applications based on the merit only.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-linked SFI, in a statement on Wednesday, said that DU must “stop discriminating against” students from Kerala state board.
“It has come to our attention
that certain colleges are rejecting applications without stating any substantial reason or withholding applications arbitrarily stating ‘clarifications to be sought from the university’. DU is bound to admit students satisfying all the eligibility criteria, it is a matter of shame that applicants are being discriminated against based on their board,” second-year law student Akhil KM, who is convener at SFI-DU, wrote in the statement.
According to admissions committee members of several colleges, students from the Kerala state board had mark sheets under two names– Board of Higher Secondary Examination and Directorate of Higher Secondary Education. The list of approved boards only had the former’s name, leading to confusion. The university officials later found out that both the boards were eligible for admission.
Till Thursday evening, DU received 60,904 applications, from which 27,006 candidates completed the formalities by paying the fees. The numbers are expected to increase by Friday as applications of 14,205 candidates have been approved by principals of various colleges, and the students were yet to pay the fee.
The Registrar also said that of 60,904 applications received under the first cut-off, 46,054 were from the CBSE board, and the rest from all other boards across the country. “By the end of October 7, 2021, 31,172 candidates from CBSE board, 2,365 from Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education, 1,540 from Board of School Education Haryana, 1,429 from Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations and 1,301 from Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan in addition to other State Boards have successfully secured their admissions,” Gupta said in the statement.
Last week, eight DU colleges announced a 100% cut-off in 11 undergraduate courses due to an increased number of topscorers this year.
The DU will announce the second cut-off list on Saturday.