The EWS bill was welcomed both in parliament and by the public but without equipping institutions to deal with such a change, it may turn out to be more of a burden than a blessing.
The buzzword this admissions season is the freshly passed 124th Constitutional Amendment bill (10% Quota Bill) which is set to be implemented for the first time in the academic year 2019-20. This bill provides for 25% of the total available seats to be reserved for candidates belonging to the economically weaker sections of society as defined by the bill. To lessen the burden of this significant change in numbers, University of Delhi is carrying it out in two phases. This session we will see a reservation of 10% of the seats for the EWS category and the other 15% will be implemented in the next academic session.
This bill has been designed in such a way that it does not carve these seats out of the available seats for the general candidates. The intake of general candidates will still remain the same so to accommodate the bill, the total intake of universities increase. For the university of Delhi, this means that the total increase in seats would be 16,000 but for the academic year 2019-20, we will see an increase in by 6400 seats.
In 2007, a similar legislation was passed creating the 27% reservation for students belonging to other backward categories (OBC). To accommodate this change, additional funds and new teaching positions were sanctioned. However, according to Professor Abha Habib of Miranda House, “The OBC expansion remains incomplete even after a decade as the promised expansion of teaching and non-teaching staff has remained incomplete. DU colleges are largely working with only half the additional posts promised under OBC expansion.”
In light of the above statement, it is evident that the pressures of the change is still being endured by the faculties of various colleges. Instead of completing the 2007 expansion, the faculty will now be additionally burdened as the current government has provided no guarantee that it will help universities by increasing funds or sanctioning additional teaching positions. Ms. Habib also went on to explain that under these circumstances, the decision to pass the EWS bill was rushed as the support required has not been provided.
To accommodate this change, the colleges will require a change in infrastructure to increase classroom sizes, residential facilities and create additional laboratories. Mr. Hansraj Suman, a former member of the University’s academic council mentioned while speaking to the Hindustan Times that 800 to 1000 more teachers will be required to meet the increase in number of students. In this scenario, with no funds being provided, colleges are left in a position to deal with the these problems themselves. This could lead to the creation and division of students into sections as classrooms are designed to accommodate only a fixed number of students. As a consequence of this, college hours would be extended and students could possibly face an increase in gaps between lectures which has been a problem expressed multiple times over the years.
Conversely, the creation of new sections would amplify the pre-existing shortage of teaching staff. However, if colleges choose not to make any such changes, it would result in skewed teacher student ratios and overcrowded classrooms and laboratories.
Featured Image Credits- Hindustan Times
Pragati Thapa
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