Delhi University (DU) has increased the number of seats for undergraduate courses in their 51 colleges and institutes. The number of undergraduate seats has increased from last year’s 66,000 to 70,000 this year. Shobha Bagai, Dean of Admission of DU informed that the number of seats increased due to the inclusion of the Economic Weaker Section (EWS) category. The university is also going to release the first cut-off list on October 12, 2020, following the schedule announced by the registrar of DU on the official website.
In 2019, the Central Government’s directive asked all educational institutions to include supernumerary seats in their admission process. Subsequently, 10,000 seats were added last year and 10 per cent seats were reserved by colleges for the EWS category candidates. This year, each college affiliated with DU has to accommodate extra 100-150 seats on offer. Due to this, colleges are facing multiple challenges due to lack of infrastructural facilities. Moreover, certain institutions are also suffering from a shortage of faculty members for various undergraduate courses. Moreover, as the country opens up for more activities, colleges have to prepare for opening up while following all social-distancing protocols.
Government has instructed all colleges to implement the EWS reservation. In the current situation, some colleges are waiting for funds from the government to meet the infrastructural requirements. Other colleges are waiting for a go-ahead from the government to start hiring faculty-members for various undergraduate courses. In some cases, the institutions have extra building ready but no funds to organise extra benches. College principles were asked about the looming issues pertaining to accommodation of seats. Principle of Ramjas College, Manoj Khanna, said that the college has extra space to include more seats but there are no funds to avail benches for students. Currently, the college is closed owing to COVID19 pandemic. However, when students shall be permitted to attend college, institutions shall not be able to accommodate them due to shortage of facilities.
The principle further added that they are happy to allow more students into their college for pursuing undergraduate courses. However, the government has not provided any monetary assistance to implement the EWS category scheme. He also highlighted certain practical issues such as management of common rooms for males and females, accommodating more students in a single classroom, etc. Other principles also shed light on the number of safety measures that each college has to implement due to the pandemic. Colleges are required to implement social distancing norms within the premises, provide sanitizers, thermal scanners and other infrastructural facilities. All these instructions and guidelines have been issued by the Health Ministry for schools and colleges.
DU colleges have agreed to include more students under the EWS category scheme for undergraduate courses. The university is also preparing to release the first cut-off list for undergraduate admission on October 12, 2020. Subsequently, admission procedures and successive cut-off lists shall also be announced by the authorities.
