1% cap in cutoff relief to girls faces criticism

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has reduced the relaxation in cutoffs given to women students by some colleges in undergraduate admission and has set a uniform relief

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has reduced the relaxation in cutoffs given to women students by some colleges in undergraduate admission and has set a uniform relief of 1%.

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Earlier, some colleges used to offer 1-5% points relaxation in cutoffs to female applicants. Now, 24 colleges, including Ramjas College, Satyawati College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Shivaji College and Sri Venkateswara College, have been allowed to offer the relaxation of 1% point for some courses.

But the decision has not gone down well with many students and teachers.

“Giving this relaxation is very important to improve literacy of women students. Earlier there was no cap on the relaxation but now there is a limit of 1% and this is likely to reduce the number of women students coming to college,” said Bhim Rao Ambedkar College principal GK Arora.

Many students and parents have been raising questions about the policy during Open Days being hosted by university officials to answer queries related to admission policy.

University officials said the decision was taken after a 24-member admission committee made the suggestion. “We found that in some colleges it (the relaxation) had led to an extremely high number of female students in some courses. It should be rationalised as only co-education colleges offer this relaxation,” an admission committee member said.

Teachers said such decisions affect thousands of students and they should be taken only after a larger debate. “At a time when we need to be inclusive, the university has changed a policy aimed at inclusion. There should have been a debate about why it is being changed,” said Abha Dev Habib, member academic council.

But some principals said the move will not affect the number of women students coming to college. “In some courses the number of girls was much higher than boys. This time one good thing university has done is made the relaxation uniform. Otherwise there used to different relaxation which created a lot of confusion ,” said Aryabhatta College principal Manoj Sinha.

Meanwhile, by Monday as many as 1,71,191 students had filled their online registration forms. The online registration started on June 1.