Working at DU help desks taking a toll on student volunteers
The help desk of Delhi University has become a substitute guide to students during the registrations process and volunteers are faced with some reasonable and some rather bizarre questions from the applicants.
Most queries arise due to lack of knowledge and from not having read the information bulletin on the varsity’s website.
Though the help desk is supposed to last till July 20, the volunteers could be needed to guide applicants even after they have secured admissions.
This has adversely affected the preparation for postgraduate courses and higher studies for the volunteers, most of whom are current DU students.
Preetika Gupta, a volunteer at help desk, says: “We get so many bizarre questions which we still have to answer; a 60 per cent scoring student asked whether or not he will get admission in Hansraj or Hindu. That was like a tipping point, but we politely gave him a negative answer.”
On her dream of doing MA in English, the young volunteer, said: “I may go to other universities for masters after my bachelors, but that requires preparation. Hopefully after this I can prepare for my entrance examination”.
The volunteers seem to unanimously agree that giving ‘career counselling’ to the applicants and their parents appears to be the prime duty of those working the help desk.
Volunteers are often seen helping students with queries, with some quipping that it is more like an internship on how to handle students and parents.
Shirin Arora, a volunteer from Hansraj College, says: “Students ask us about other varsities, like GGSIP and Ambedkar University, which we have no clue about. They must ask the universities instead.”
“I have to prepare for a few entrance exams as I want to go abroad. It is great to help other students, but we get around 150 queries per day,” Shirin added.
Gajanan Srivastav, another volunteer, said: “Some students even ask us for some ‘special arrangement’ to get admission into the University, which is just unwanted at the moment.”