100% cut-off: Education Ministry must find a way, say educationists

By Ganesh Bhatt

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) After several colleges affiliated to Delhi University (DU) declared 100 per cent cut-off for students seeking admission in various undergraduate courses, many well-known educationists across the country have said the students seeking admission in DU are unhappy with the soaring cut-offs and the Union Education Ministry must find an alternative to boost the morale of the students seeking admission in DU.

As many as 70,004 students this year have secured between 95 and 100 marks in their class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams. Of these, 9,200 have applied for admission in DU.

Reputed educationists in the country have attributed the high scores by students to liberal marking done due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Academicians are in favour of comprehensive reforms and changes in the admission process of universities across the country. DU itself is in favour of this change. Despite this the varsity maintains that it fully respects the marks awarded by CBSE to students in their class 12 exams.

Ashok Aggarwal, member of DU's Executive Council, told IANS, "The manner in which the 100 per cent cut-off has been released for many subjects in DU discourages thousands of meritorious students. The class 12 CBSE exams have been cancelled this year due to which an alternative criteria was decided to award marks to the students. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the marking evaluation was kept quite liberal resulting in a large number of students securing 100 per cent marks."

Aggarwal has advised major changes in the admission process at the university level. He said thousands of students are not able to get admission in colleges even after securing more than 90 per cent marks, which is quite depressing.

He has placed the demand of admission in DU, including all other universities, on the basis of entrance test before the varsity administration and the Union Education Ministry.

The demand for implementation of Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) is also growing. Under this, a common entrance test will be held for admission in all central universities. Under the new education policy, this system could be implemented from the next academic session.

Hansraj Suman, DU Professor and former DU Academic Council Member, said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the evaluation process adopted for awarding marks in the class 12 board exams was misused by several schools who sent exaggerated performance of the students studying in them. He is also in favour of completely revamping the admission process in DU.

He has demanded that under the new education policy, students should get admission in colleges and universities on the basis of entrance test. Under this policy the marks obtained by students in class 12 could also be given importance.

Suman said there are a large number of students who have successfully secured 100 per cent or nearly cent per cent marks in their class 12 board exams but the annual score in a college remains nearly 70 per cent.

DU Vice-Chancellor, P.C. Joshi has said this year a large number of students have passed the CBSE exams with good marks, adding that, the varsity has full respect for the exam results released by CBSE and other education boards. The seats in colleges could be increased if required.

The Vice-Chancellor said if more students are found eligible for admission in the cut-off list released by the colleges, then the varsity will give them admission. In such a situation the seats in colleges could be increased.

Many colleges of DU in the past have already released soaring cut-off lists. These colleges include Hindu College, Hansraj College, Ramjas College, Daulat Ram College, SRCC and the St. Stephen's College.

This year the merit lists are likely to soar even higher as compared to previous years. Despite the soaring cut-off, admission will be given on the basis of merit, the DU Vice-Chancellor added.

This year the CBSE has declared the class 12 board results of a total of 13,04,561 students across the country. Of 13,04,561 students, 12,96,318 have passed the class 12 board exams. Of the total number of students taking the exam, 70,004 have secured more than 95 per cent marks while 1,50,152 students have secured between 90 and 95 per cent marks.

PC Joshi told IANS that the CUCET has not been implemented this year. In such a situation, CBSE guidelines will be followed while declaring the cut-off lists by the university.

According to him, this decision has been taken in view of the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis. He said the varsity is standing with the Union government. "The admission criteria in DU will be strictly on the basis of merit. We will respect the evaluation criteria followed during CBSE board exams."