Ah! Delhi University, thou heartless bitch. Thou hast refused me thy bowers and shunned me to thy little sister, IPU. Y u play so hard to get, bae?
This is the mental state of many people after the admission season is over, as it was mine.
After dreaming about walking in the halls that many great people have walked before, dreaming about the “college life” that one hears only in rumors and the occasional web series (See Baked, eet is awesome), when the hard reality comes crashing down like an inevitable hangover, Devdas Mode is switched on.
Many people in their uncontrollable rage, blurt out words like I have, and they are often right in doing so.
Because it is not like they have not worked hard or have scored bad, but due to circumstances that I will discuss below, they miss out and have to live far, far from their home state.
Now the main issue that this debate revolves around is that State Boards have a different marking scheme than CBSE and ICSE (the two main boards in Delhi schools), this means that the students studying under those boards might have an unfair advantage because of the fact that the university considers all marks equally without any moderation.
In fact, it even dropped the 2.5% deduction last year.
Also Check Out: FlippED – Our Bloggers Fight It Out Over: Does College Name Matter?
It is a well-known fact that Delhi University cut-offs skyrocket, why they do so is an issue for another article but the fact is that they do, whether because of the unfair marking schemes of state boards or other reasons. Alongside, Delhi University, unlike IP University and Ambedkar University, does not have a reservation policy for the residents of Delhi or its Domiciles.
All of these factors lead to a situation where residents of Delhi are themselves not able to get admitted in Delhi University and there is an efflux to other states and there is a massive efflux from other states to the capital.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but many have argued that the students living in Delhi have an implicit right to the ever evasive seats of the university.
People on this side of the fence argue that many other educational institutions do require you to be domiciles of the state that you are in.
They also argue that if they themselves are not able to utilize the resources of the state that they themselves live in, then it is simply a waste as it requires great efforts on behalf of the students to situate and educate themselves in another part of the country.
This coupled with the fact that, Delhi University is one of the best in terms of the culture, co-curricular activities, teachers, resources and overall quality, this is bound to hurt.
And hurt it does, speaking from personal experience, I was infuriated when I read the report last year that due to a marking scheme by the Tamil Nadu state board, SRCC, a top Delhi University college was had an excess of students from that state.
Now, you could argue that Delhi University is a Central Govt entity and everyone all over the country has the right to study there. But I raise you this, that other states actively discriminate against students from outside their state, why shouldn’t we?
I also raise you the question that, instead of students all over India coming to one university that is good (after spending a buttload of money in living and transportation costs) shouldn’t you push your state government to improve your particular university so that you won’t have to travel hundreds of miles and spends tens of thousands of rupees to live here?
I too, have been a victim of this unfair treatment and would love to see a policy of reservation for residents of Delhi like the one in IP university.
But the fact remains that Delhi University is a Central Government University and is not subject to the state* government jurisdiction. Any change that has to take place will have to come from the top.
Alas, there is a slim chance of this, as any central government has to take decisions keeping in mind all the stakes it has all over the country.
Any unilateral action will have political consequences and one lesson that we have all learned after living in India, Politics trumps logic.
You’d Also Like To Read:
http://edtimes.in/2017/05/why-choosing-course-over-college-is-much-better-than-the-other-way-around/
