2013-06-29

Mindboggling ‘cut-off’ marks edge higher.

BLOG: Taxila
By Siddharth Theodore



NEW DELHI: I could see myself scrambling from one college  to another armed with ‘original’ certificates in the rucksack, wading through goggle eyed boys and girls looking for that admission list, perched precariously on wooden stands or stuck inside gauze covered notice boards.

For the sporting types, the sweltering heat of this time of the year adds to the excitement, but for the greater majority like me, it adds to the commotion, making the whole hunt an onerous task but nevertheless a  rites de passage where finally the school kids are separated and considered to join the next level—the University.

But, it is with some kind of vicarious pleasure, I must confess, that I was only watching an action replay and I was only reminiscing (above scene) these unsure times one year back. I did succeed in getting a foothold in the University last year and I have completed successfully a year in this numero uno seat of learning in India which had modest beginning in 1922 with only three colleges – St.  Stephen’s   College – founded in 1881, Hindu College founded in 1899 and Ramjas College, founded in 1917.

Today, Delhi University has grown into one of the largest universities in India. At present, there are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 77   colleges and 5 other recognized   institutes spread all over the city, with 1,32,435 regular students.

These statistics however, means adding to the pressures of admissions and a constant raising of the bar as   the dreaded word called ‘’cut offs’’ just heads north. The university admission limits for marks keep touching new highs as more students in class X11th this year have percentages going above the 90s.

There is a 37% increase in students with more than 90% marks, and a 62% increase in those with more than 95%. Altogether 44,676 students have scored 90% and higher in the Class XII CBSE boards, and their best-of-four aggregate for undergraduate admissions is likely to be even higher as 701 students have scored a perfect 100 in math, 1,498 have scored 96% and above in English, and 754 have scored 98% and above in physics.

Now comes the critical part. Most colleges plan to keep the cut-offs in their first lists above 95%. If St. Stephen’s cutoff for economics (H) was 98% last year, it could be higher this time despite the additional seats. Valson Thampu, principal of the college, says the only solution to offset this scramble for seats is to build more institutions of excellence. He says that in a in a country of 1.2 billion, there should have been 5,000 more St. Stephen’s colleges. Cutoff will get stiffer but there is not much room for it to go beyond 98%.

Scores in subjects like sociology, geography, business studies, accountancy, physics, biology, English, psychology, sociology, geography and  business studies have zoomed and last month’s results shows that  the qualifying marks for them have increased.

The same is echoed by the University officials too who vouch that the cutoffs for courses could go up as high as 3-5 per cent.

Earlier this month, the process of registration of admission forms was issued. On June 27th, the first cut-off list was notified enabling the first entrants to pay their fees by the 29th. Thereafter, the rest of the angst driven students and worried parents can look for the second and the third cut off lists and subsequent payment of fees on July 4 to 6. The fourth round of cut-off, would be staged on July 8 followed by the fifth and the final round of inductions July 11 to 13th.

A close look at some of the subjects however reveals that there is a specific trend for each discipline. For example English language course merit certificates have been given to students who scored more than 96 (English core) and 98 (English elective). According to DU teachers, this means that in the top colleges, the cut-offs may not rise much. Since English is compulsory in most colleges, the marks may provide the balance this year.

In Mathematics, like last year, this year too, the number of students scoring a perfect 100 has gone down. While last year 987 students had got the merit certificate, this year the number has come down to 701. According to experts, this may fail to bring down the cut-offs in science and commerce as the students have scored extremely well in other science and commerce subjects. While Science students have done extremely well this year with the merit certificates in Physics, Biology and Computer Science going up by a large margin. These scores – coupled with some courses going up for a B Tech degree in Delhi University — will push up the cut-off in sciences, some believe by up to 4%.

The discipline of Commerce shows that students have done exceedingly well in the stream. The merit certificates in all subjects are either up or comparable to last year, despite increase in the merit cut-off. In Business Studies, the merit certificates have gone up from 844 to 901. Only economics has seen a slight dip of 26 with 520 merit certificates being given out this year. But this is only because the merit cut-off has gone up from 98 to 99 this year.

Even in humanities, the number of students getting merit certificates has gone up, despite a rise in the cut-off for the subjects. In History, the merit cut-off has been increased from 96 to 97 but the students have still increased to 151 from 137 last year. In Political Science too, the number of students getting a certificate has gone up by 104. In Geography, too, the merit have increased. Psychology is the only subject in which the merit certificates have come down from 111 last year to 84 this year. The humanities cut-offs in universities, especially DU, may see a slight jump.

But despite these mindboggling trends that a student has to cope with, more and more of them are flocking to this top institution for learning in India and a sure-shot platform that would surely catapult them and their dreams to a new orbit—the universities abroad with the institutes in the US being the icing on the cake.

(Siddharth Theodore is currently pursuing a course majoring in History from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He is a keen cricketer and loves to hike.)

To contact the author, e-mail: editor@americanbazaaronline.com

 

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