NEW DELHI: It is one week since the Delhi University started its registration process for admission to undergraduate (UG) courses. But, is the university prepared enough to cater to the huge rush seeking admission to its colleges? Last year, the university had received more than three lakh applications for just 56,000 seats in various UG courses.
DU is among the largest universities of India with 86 academic departments, 66 colleges and five other recognised institutes. But shortage of hostels and teaching staff affecting studies is the story in DU colleges every year.
Of the total 11,000 teachers in the varsity, 4,500 are on ad-hoc basis for the past 10 years. There have been several protests by the teachers seeking regularisation, but to no avail.
The story doesn’t end here. The university has only 17 hostels with a capacity of 3,215, and one at university with a capacity of 630, for undergraduate course students.
Every year, more than 30,000 students apply for hostel, but only some manage to get through, leaving rest in the lurch.
The varsity has around 100-acre land lying vacant in different areas of Delhi, but despite students’ demand, the university has failed to construct more hostels. Bindia, who came from Andhra Pradesh to take admission in Lady Shri Ram College for Women, said “Hostel is a necessity for students like us who come from different states of the country.
We can’t afford to stay in expensive PGs. But after talking to students, it seems getting hostel in the university will not be an easy task.”
Insufficient lab equipment is another problem at varsity colleges. Sample this: Out of the total 20 equipment at the university’s science instrument centre, 10 are non-functional. Officials say the reason is lack of upkeep from the university’s end.
No Online Test for PG, MPhil, PhD
After witnessing continuous protests by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad, DU has also scrapped the decision of conducting online entrance for post graduate (PG), MPhil and PhD courses for this session.
The protests have even delayed the admission process for these courses, which is set to start from May 31.