Hindustan Times (Jammu)

Surge may delay admissions to DU colleges this year

- Fareeha Iftikhar fareeha.iftikhar@htdigital.in

Admissions to colleges in Delhi University are likely to be delayed by a few months due to the second Covid-19 wave raging across the country, officials involved in the process said on Tuesday.

Officials said that the university will wait for majority of the education boards in the country to complete their Class 12 exams before starting the admission process. Last year, due to the lockdown and curbs, the registrati­on process began in June, and the first cut- off was announced in October.

The DU academic session, which normally begins in July, began in November last year.

Officials said the admission process is likely to get delayed again this year with the Covid cases rising across the country. “DU is the biggest central university in the country and students from all over the country apply here. The university is keeping a close eye on how different state boards and national education boards are planning to conduct Class 12 exams. In some states, such as Maharashtr­a, the state education board has postponed Class 12 board exams. We cannot exclude students from Maharashtr­a by deciding early admission dates. So, it is certain that the process will get delayed,” said Rajeev Gupta, chairperso­n of DU’s admission panel.

Acting vice-chancellor PC Joshi said the admission timeline is dependent on how the state and national education boards conduct their Class 12 examinatio­ns.

“We have to take care of all the boards. There is still uncertaint­y about CBSE exams. So it’s likely that the admission proc

The university is keeping a close eye on how different state boards and national education boards are planning to conduct Class 12 exams

RAJEEV GUPTA, chairperso­n of DU’s admission panel

ess will get delayed,” he said.

Maharashtr­a on Monday postponed its Class 10 and 12 board exams. There have been similar demands in other states as well in view of the spike in cases.

HT reported in February that DU was planning to adopt Central Universiti­es Common Entrance Test (CUCET) from this year for admission to various undergradu­ate courses. Under the new system, the test score and Class 12 marks will be considered for admission to undergradu­ate courses.

Joshi, who is a member of a committee constitute­d by the Union education ministry to recommend modalities for CUCET, said the university is still waiting for the Centre to notify CUCET. “We are ready to implement CUCET from this year. The university has decided to give 50-50 weightage to both CUCET and Class 12 scores,” he said.

DU is also likely to skip sport and extracurri­cular activity trials for admissions on 5% supernumer­ary seats reserved for these categories in each course.

 ?? AMAL KS/HT ARCHIVE ?? Students outside the University Plaza after Delhi University reopened for final year students on February 1.
AMAL KS/HT ARCHIVE Students outside the University Plaza after Delhi University reopened for final year students on February 1.

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