DU medical board for students with disabilities scrapped

The Delhi University has made the admission process easier for physically challenged students by doing away with a medical board that used to examine such aspirants even after they produced medical certificates.

The Delhi University has made the admission process easier for physically challenged students by doing away with a medical board that used to examine such aspirants even after they produced medical certificates.

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"The step has been taken to do away with the hurdles for admission under the category. We do not want any student to be inconvenienced," said JM Khurana, Dean, Students Welfare. This year, the university will rely on medical certificates issued by government hospitals notified by the National Commission for Disabled Persons.

"In cases where we have doubts about the certificate being genuine, we may send the student for a test," said Khurana. More than 1,600 seats are reserved for students with disabilities in the university. Most of these, however, go vacant as the university do not get enough applications to fill up all the seats.

"Appointing the medical board would be like questioning the veracity of a certificate issued by a government body," said Nisha Singh, member, Equal Opportunity Cell, Delhi University.

Many others, however, wondered if it was a good idea to do away with the medical board.

"Getting a fake certificate is not a difficult these days. And if the university wants to ensure that the students should not face any inconvenience, they should try and hold the medical check-up along with the registration process," said the principal of a leading North Campus college, requesting anonymity.

As per the admission guidelines, the university admits students having at least 40 per cent disability under the quota for such students. The medical certificate produced by students at the time of admission should have been issued three or less than three years before the admission date. Older certificates are rejected.