Its tough breaking the science barrier

Updated on: Thursday, June 16, 2011

It was never so hard to make it to science courses in Delhi University. Perhaps it's the rising demand for these courses that they have witnessed sky-high
cutoffs.

This is probably the first time that cutoffs have seen a hike of up to 13% in any course. Physics (H) and chemistry (H) have cutoffs comparable to BCom (H) this year. Colleges say they are just trying to avoid over-crowding
and the second list should make the aspirants happier though they warn that the drop may not be significant.

Ira Pandit, media coordinator, Daulat Ram College, which came up with a 13% increase in chemistry (H) in the first list, said, "The second list should be more realistic and meaningful for students." Absence of forms made sure that colleges were clueless of what to expect once admissions start. Many of them had admitted double their intake last year which had never happened before in sciences. But all their apprehensions have left the aspirants anxious."

Tanuj Dewan, who was banking on sciences to get admission in a North Campus college with 85%, said, "Last year's cutoffs were a good reference point. But now all my planning has gone haywire. Getting into basic sciences looks as tough as getting an engineering seat."

Colleges justify the unexpected hike by saying that they have limited infrastructure. "We have hiked the cutoff for physics (H) substantially because we had admitted 50 extra students last year. And there were hardly any drop-outs last year," said Jaswinder Singh, principal, SGTB Khalsa College where the cutoff for physics (H) was 82.6% in 2010 and is 92% this year.

V K Kawatra, principal, Hans Raj College added, "Our infrastructure is limited and with OBC quota, there is hardly any space left. So it becomes difficult to adjust even one extra student. And we can't deny admission to any eligible
student."

At Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, where chemistry (H) was introduced only last year, the cutoff was hiked by 10%. "Last year, we had looked at the cutoffs of our neighbouring colleges to fix the chemistry cutoff at 70%.

But as a result, we had to admit 60 students against 16 seats in the general category. Same was the case with the campus colleges. Since we have small classrooms and work out of a school building,
we thought it best to be cautious with the cutoffs. But there will be a drop in the second cutoffs."

Times of India

Its tough breaking the science barrier

More Education news