The first day of admissions at most Delhi University colleges, under the first cut-off list, was a slow affair with many colleges recording only a handful of admissions.
The process was also plagued with issues of payment, as the portal was not working earlier in the day. Some applicants, despite meeting the required cut-off, could not confirm their seats as they could not get the printout of the college form on time.
One such applicant was Bindu Patnana from Chhattisgarh, who waited the entire morning for her DU college form, but in vain. “I will now have to extend my stay in Delhi for two more days to get admission on Tuesday,” said Bindu, who wishes to pursue BA (Hon) History from Sri Venkateswara College.
According to Venkat Kumar, admission convener from the college, the applications were pending for approval as the online link through which the principal had to grant them were not working. “There were problems in the portal till evening, due to which students had to face problems,” said Kumar.
The college staff said it may be one reason why the number of admissions on the first day was not huge. Principal of a north campus college, who did not wish to be named, said, “The university portal, through which the student is expected to pay the admission fees online, opened a little later in the day, by around 1.45 pm. This also slowed down the admission process a little.”
Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College principal Gyantosh Jha said, “During the day, there were problems with the portal, due to which fee payment was not happening. “
However, a DU offical said that the university opened the portal for fee payment after 4pm and that it was a planned decision. “We had decided to open the portal after 4pm and informed the same to colleges as well,” an official said.
Despite the lowered cut-offs, many colleges saw fewer students visiting on the first day of admissions to secure a seat. Miranda House admitted 86 students on the first day, with 15 of them opting for the BA Programme. BSc (Hon) in Botany had the fewest takers, with just one person getting admitted to the course.
At Shri Ram College of Commerce, around 100 out of the 624 seats were full by the end of the day. At Kirori Mal College, only about 147 admissions were done against the 1,350 seats.
“The number of students seeking admission picks up on the third day of the admission, which is the last day to get admission under the first list. But it looks like we will announce a second cut-off for most courses,” said Dinesh Khattar, acting principal of KMC.
Some DU colleges claimed that this was a normal phenomenon on the first day of admissions. “Students usually indulge in ‘admission tourism’ on the first days, where they go visit multiple campuses and ‘window shop.’ They then start clamouring for seats on the last day,” said the vice principal of a north campus college.
Students and officials were also plagued with concerns over not being able to access the college portal.
The students, who did make it to the colleges, expressed their surprise and joy at the reduced cut-offs at many of the DU colleges.“The cut-offs in many colleges are lower than last year, which is a good thing. It gives many more students opportunities to pursue degrees at DU colleges,” said Shambhavi Ojha, who is hoping for a seat in Political Science (Hon) at Daulat Ram College.
There were many who were also surprised at the dip. “I was expecting it to increase this year. I had read that the number of students in India who had scored more than 95% (in the CBSE Class 12 exams) had increased. I thought this would also increase the cut-offs at DU,” said Shanna Jain, who secured a seat at Kirori Mal College for English (Hon).
[“source-hindustantimes”]
