The Hindu : Admissions might rob carnival of fun

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2003

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Admissions might rob carnival of fun

DELHI UNIVERSITY'S grand annual carnival is all set to roll. And though college corridors are likely to be brimming with activity only from the first official day of submission of forms - June 4 - the campus hopefully is likely to see less chaos and confusion this time with schools and post offices joining in to lessen the load.

Only, despite the University's noble intentions, it now looks like students will have to wait till June 4 to get the forms from their schools too. In a clarification, Delhi University stated on Wednesday that while post offices would be selling the forms from the earlier decided date of June 4, due to "reasons beyond control'' schools would also start distributing the centralised forms only from June 4 instead of the earlier announced date of May 28.

The idea behind making the forms available from schools early on, according to the Vice-Chancellor, Deepak Nayyar, had been to reduce the students' rounds to the University. A total of 654 government schools and select public schools will be distributing these forms that can also be downloaded from the University website: www.du.ac.in.

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THE CLASS XII examination results may have shown a distinct decline in the marks scored by students in English, with many colleges saying that this could lead to a drop in the cut-off for some courses, but that has hardly changed the competition that this particular subject sees in colleges.

This year eleven colleges will be holding the entrance examinations for the undergraduate B.A (Hons) English course. While Gargi will be holding the examinations on June 18 and 19, Kamala Nehru College will be holding the exams on June 19.

The following day, June 20, will see the entrance test at colleges like Hindu, Janaki Devi Mahavidyalaya, Miranda House, Rajdhani College and Lady Shri Ram College for Women. The SPM College for Women will be holding the test on June 23, Maharaja Agrasen on June 26 and Ramjas and Daulat Ram on June 27. Janaki Devi Mahavidyalaya will, in fact, also hold the exams on June 21.

For students who performed well in English in their Class X, XI and pre-Boards but failed to get the necessary marks in the subject at least Gargi offers a breather. The college allows students to sit for the exam if they present a letter from their school on their consistent performance in the subject.

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THE ENTRANCE examinations for various courses under the faculty of music and fine arts will be held between June 2 and 30.

While the examinations for the undergraduate B.A (Hons) in music in Hindustani as well as Carnatic classical will be held on June 3 and 4, those for the MA courses will be held on June 10 and 11. The tests for the Sangeet Shiromani Diploma will be held on June 14.

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THE UNIVERSITY is, however, quick to add a word of caution. At least for those students who may not quite be ready for the kind of elements that a round to the University can sometimes bring. Last year had seen the Vice-Chancellor specifically warn students, especially girls, against giving their address or names at sponsored kiosks run by private educational companies.

The Vice-Chancellor had categorically mentioned that many students had complained later that they were receiving calls from some of these institutes. The Dean of Students' Welfare, Hema Raghavan, while admitting of the problem today said: "We do advise students to be on guard and be careful about where and who they give their contacts to.''

But students can perhaps take heart in the fact that these have been nothing more than stray cases really.

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STUDENTS OF Delhi University's Campus Law Centre are an angry lot these days. The reason seems to be a report in a leading magazine that placed them at number eight of the country's top ten law colleges.

The students went to the extent of burning copies of the magazine and accused it of indulging in corporate conspiracy to malign the image of the "prestigious and reputed institute''.

``The survey conducted was superficial. The respondents have not performed their task meticulously. The basis for putting the National Law School, Bangalore at the top rank is that they have a lavish infrastructure and appreciable placement,'' the students' union said in a statement.

But all said and done, the students are quick to point out when asked about attendance that managing the minimum is never a problem. "It can all be done,'' they claim. Now considering that attending classes is not even seen as necessary, it should not be too difficult for the students to know why they were down the order of that list!

Lakshmi Balakrishnan

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