The disagreement between college student leaders and the management of DAV (PG) College and DBS (PG) College regarding admissions based on merit list, continued on Friday.
Though the student leaders maintain that admissions on the basis of merit list will deprive many students of admissions, many students themselves are in favour of merit-based admissions though they also support the demand for increase in the number of seats in these two colleges.
On Thursday, two National Students Union of India (NSUI) members were shot by members of another NSUI group which had escalated the political tension in the college.
While a group of NSUI members protested outside Gandhi Park demanding the arrest of those involved in the shooting, the DAV (PG) college remained closed on Friday except for those appearing in the internal exams amidst heavy police deployment in the campus.
The student leaders who were present at the college to protest on the merit list issue were made to leave the campus to prevent disorder.
Opining on the issue, a law student wishing anonymity said, “I believe there should be a merit based admission system.
“I agree that the cut off percentage may be decreased a bit but permitting each and every student to take admission spoils the quality of education and even the college infrastructure does not support such a large number of students. The problem arises during examinations with issues including seating arrangements”.
Three other students Bhupriya, Narendra and Pradeep who are in the second year opined that merit list is necessary but the cut off level should be low to support the average students as well.
“I didn’t score much in my board exams and could not make it to many colleges. High cut offs deprive many average scoring students from studying in decent colleges,” said Bhupriya.
Pradeep who is seeking admission in BCom, does not favour the merit based admissions as he scored 59 per cent in the board exam and would not secure admission if the cut off is set above 60 per cent.
The DBS (PG) college witnessed a similar situation with protesting students closing the admission section. Student leader Sujeet Thapa said, “We will not let the admission process start until our demands are met.
“We are demanding increase in number of seats and 10 per cent quota for Uttarakhand Board students”, he said. Sneha, who was unaware of the current situation and had come to seek admission in DBS (PG) college, supported the merit list system and wished the admission process would start soon so that she may focus on her studies.