An exuberant Indian under 19 cricket team recently conquered the World Cup under the leadership of Unmukt Chand but the debate that followed did not centre on Unmukt’s potential as a cricketer. Instead it was the controversy regarding his promotion (orinitially detainment) in college that monopolized the media space.
But surely Unmukt deserves a little leniency after having made the nation proud in such emphatic fashion. Add to that the rigours of cricket practise and one can understand his predicament. On the other hand, the very object of exams is to gauge the progress made by students in their chosen field of study and Unmukt has equivocally made none. Is it then not fair that he be made to repeat the semester?
This week Juxtapose poses the simple question whether a world cup can buy a promotion?
Admissions are probably the most chaotic time of the year for DU, well maybe they’ve taken a back-seat to the ever-controversial semester system, but they remain a prominently harrowing process nevertheless. With the fake-caste certificate scam and the Ramjas admission racket, the quota entry into DU is eyed with much suspicion. The sports quota is perhaps no exception.
However this year, the sports quota admissions at Delhi University apart from being decentralized, were also based on equal weightage for a candidate’s certificates and trial performance, unlike last year’s 75-25 ratio, which people tried to exploit through fake National and Zonal certificates.
“When there was no marking system, there was a possibility of manipulating the coach or team to get in. Even last year, students manipulated the marking system by getting fake certificates to satisfy the 75% weightage given to certificates. But this year, with the 50-50 weightage given to certificates and field trial, there is complete transparency. A lot of colleges, including ours, are videotaping the trials to be able to address any grievances later.” said Mr. Narendra Gaur, HOD Physical Education, Sri Venkateswara College.
As per the fresh guidelines notified by DU, the trials were conducted by a panel of representatives from the University Sports Council and an observer from the University Vice-Chancellor’s office. A physical fitness test preceded the trials and only shortlisted candidates are allowed to compete.
“Last year’s centralized sports trials caused a lot of hue and cry. But the system this year was very transparent. There was a check on colleges as the Sports Quota Admission Committee of each college was headed by the principal and also included sports experts from a confidential university-approved list. There was absolutely no possibility of any nexus between a student and the experts.” said Dr. Meera Sood, Secretary of Delhi University Sports Council (DUSC) about Sports Quota admissions this year.
Having changed the Sports Quota admission process two years in a row, DU seems determined to rule out any possibility of foul-play when it comes to quotas. “A few years back it was possible to get in through sports quota if you knew someone on the team, as the coach along with the team would take the trials. Obviously we never take bad players, since we have to play with them as a team, but it was a possibility all the same, and has perhaps even happened before. But with the new system, there’s no such chance, because the trials are supervised by experts from SAI (Sports Authority of India)”, said two members of the Hansraj and Hindu basketball teams.
