NEW DELHI: The admissions in the categories Sport and ECA, which are currently running at Delhi University (DU), have come under renewed criticism, with some colleges raising questions about the unequal distribution of applicants in the respective courses.
However, the DU Sports Council (DUSC) denied the allegations, claiming that “courses and colleges are allocated without human intervention” and “in strict accordance with university guidelines.”
Due to the ongoing pandemic, no studies took place this year and admission is based on a centralized list that was approved by the university after evaluating the certificates uploaded by the applicants.
Senior officials at several colleges said the number of university-shortlisted applicants for a particular degree program at a college exceeded the departmental ceiling for colleges. The university’s guidelines state that 5% of total sanctioned strength in college is reserved for sports and extracurricular (ECA) categories combined.
Similar concerns have also been raised by colleges for admission to the ECA. For example, at Sri Venkateswara College, the first ECA centralized merit list saw seven candidates for BA (H) economics against one sanctioned seat, while BCom (H) had eight candidates against the three sanctioned seats. Likewise, the BA (H) Sociology saw five students against a sanctioned seat.
A senior college official said, “The university has no limit on the number of people who can be admitted to any particular course. But that leads to a much higher number of students in a few courses. ”
Many argued that an unequal distribution of students across faculties would also lead to a distorted relationship between students and teachers.
A senior professor at Ramjas College said, “How can the university continue to push students to the most sought-after courses at popular colleges? Colleges also have a departmental seating matrix that isn’t actually followed. Colleges used to do the ECA and sports approvals themselves. But now, in the guise of the pandemic, the system has become really opaque. ”
Senior officials said the Political Science BA (H) course saw about eight applications against an approved strength of two seats, while BCom (Prog) saw 12 against three to four approved seats.
However, Pankaj Sinha, chairman of the DUSC, said there were no rule violations and the allocation of colleges was based on the basic rank in game or sport and the choice of subject the sport student had.
“The reservation of 5% applies as a whole and not on a departmental basis. The courses are assigned based on the athlete’s preference. Why is it when students from the sports field also want to take mainstream subjects? If there are five gold medalists wanting to study economics at a particular college, what harm does it do? Why should we punish them by forcing them to learn something they don’t want? ”Sinha said.
