Students who didn’t get a chance to study a particular language in school but wish to pursue it in college have now found a golden opportunity in the University of Delhi. In this year’s admission guidelines issued by the college, if a student has not studied a particular language in school, can still apply for an Honours degree in it after bearing a disadvantage of five per cent in the ‘best of four’ average. This way the student would at least be eligible for the course if one meets the cut-off.
According to university officials, this guideline has come in lieu of the increasing number of such applicants in the past. “We noticed in the past few years that a lot of students were not able to pursue an Honours degree in a language they hadn’t studied. This was not fair on them as a lot of people don’t end up pursuing a language because the school they are studying in doesn’t offer it. That doesn’t mean the student is barred from that course,” said officials at the Dean of Student’s Welfare office.
Nonetheless, this rule is not applicable for Hindi and English. The guidelines issued by the university read, “In case, a candidate has not studied the language at qualifying exam and is seeking admission in Honours in that language, a disadvantage of five per cent in ‘Best of Four’ percentage may be given to the aspirant. However, for admission to Honours in English and Hindi, the candidate must have studied the respective language and has to be included for calculation of Best of Four percentage.”
However, some relief has been provided by the university in this aspect as well. Earlier, only if a student had done the elective or core language in Class XII was one eligible to apply to the language. But now, even if the student has studied functional language, can apply but on a slight disadvantage. Officials added, “While students who have studied the core language will be given no advantage or disadvantage, students who have studied elective language will get a two per cent advantage and students who have studied functional language will get a two per cent disadvantage. This will place all of them on the same level and not deny anyone admission.”