NEWS Font Size School of Open Learning raises eligibility criteria

Updated on: Monday, June 07, 2010

New Delhi: The decision by Delhi University authorities to increase the eligibility criteria for B.A. and B.Com courses of the School of Open Learning (SOL) to 40 percent has garnered mixed reactions from people.

Many people are opposed to the decision as they feel that it will restrict many aspirants from accessing higher education.

Professor K.B. Gupta, admissions committee convenor for SOL said that the job of SOL is to provide higher education opportunities to students who have not been ale to gain admission into regular DU colleges. However, SOL functions just like a regular college having procedures such as examinations, evaluations, etc.

J. Khuntia, member of DU Academic Council and Associate Professor of Economics at SOL opposed the DU authorities' decision and said that up till last year, a student was eligible for admission through SOL if they had cleared their Class 12 examinations. They could opt for any stream of their choice, which had made sure that higher education was easily accessible to them.

"The School of Open Learning is not a formal mode of education. It cannot have restrictions or strict criteria for admissions. We have already written to the Vice Chancellor regarding our stance against this decision," he said.

More than 50,000 to 60,000 students are admitted on an average every year to SOL. Professor Khuntia said that around 1500 students out of these numbers would now be affected due to the change in admission criteria and would have to seek higher education elsewhere.

The courses for which the eligibility percentage has been increased, the B.A. and B.Com, programmes, are the most popular ones at SOL with more than 30,000 students enrolling for them every year.

SOL Executive Director H.C. Pokhriyal has defended the decision to increase the eligibility criteria and has said that it has been done to make the educational process at SOL to be equal that of regular colleges.

DU Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental too defended the decision and cited several reasons for it. He said that the number of students who were applying for SOL had increased considerably and it was becoming difficult to cope with them. There was also difficulty in finding adequate examination centres due to the large number of students. Increasing the eligibility criteria would help in eradicating these issues.

NEWS Font Size School of Open Learning raises eligibility criteria

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