Delhi University: Without outsider mix, culture curry to be bland

NEW DELHI: Delhi University is renowned as a cultural melting pot where students from diverse states and cultural backgrounds come together under one roof for the singular purpose of education. This tradition may have to yield to new pressures, with the

Delhi legislative assembly

passing a resolution on Thursday calling for reserving 85% of the seats in 28 government-funded colleges for residents of the capital.

Of the 63 colleges under DU, 12 are fully funded and 16 partially financed by the state government. Opposing the reservation, Delhi University Teacher’s Union (DUTA) said the university has to give equal opportunity to students from across the country. “DUTA is unanimously opposed to reservation for city students because DU is a central university with an all-India character,” said Nandita Narain, DUTA president. “Due to its academic standard, the institution is able to offer diversity to the students who study here.”

Narain pointed out that in any case, the state-funded colleges currently catered mainly to Delhi- or NCR-based students since most of them did not offer hostel facilities.

In 2014 too, as RTI documents revealed, DU had rejected

Delhi government

’s appeal for reservation of 85 per cent and 50%, respectively, in the state-funded and partially funded colleges for the 2014-15 academic year. Even then, the university authorities had turned down the demand on the ground that DU was a central university.

Students from across the country, and particularly from the northern states, covet a seat in DU due to its history of good placements, infrastructure and exposure to exchange programmes. The legislative assembly’s resolution sorely disappointed Anjali Jaiswal of Varanasi, a commerce aspirant. “Private universities are mostly out of reach for middle-class families, so where are students supposed to go for all-round development?”

Meghna CH of Kerala, who secured 100% Class XII and chose DU over other colleges, admitted that city students should get preference in admission at DU, “but 85% is too big a proportion, and it will put a large number of students, especially from north India and neighbouring states, at a distinct disadvantage during admissions”.