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The Delhi University has decided to bring out a proposal where a 10% cap will be put on the number of students opting for Modern Indian Language (MIL) as optional subject at the undergraduate level.

 Various colleges of the varsity provides students with different Modern Indian Languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Punjabi as an optional subject to students of BA programme and B Com programme courses which when opted are compulsory for the students to study in the first two years as a core course.

The decision taken by the DU’s Academic Council (AC) aims at equally distributing students in each of these languages in every college. The committee is also contemplating introducing a uniform relaxation policy for all the colleges who awards 4% to 10% relaxation in marks to the students who take up these languages while taking admissions.

The standing committee passed the agenda items during its meeting last week which states, “The admission committee felt the need to relook the eligibility criteria related to MIL having a uniform policy of awarding advantages to students who wish to pursue languages in higher studies for all colleges.”

This move also reduces the burden on colleges which are offering more than one language courses as an optional subject. All the language courses would be able to draw students and not only a select few will get precedence over others.

According to a B.A. programme student from Gargi, “Fixing the number of students for language is beneficial for students as some colleges do not have infrastructure to accommodate too many students in one class, that leads to the division of sections and many times a complex time table not suitable to all. Above all, if a student is really willing to study a particular language allotment needs to be done on the basis of merit or any other fair procedure”

This move might also reduce preferability for only one or two languages and complete neglect of others which often results in colleges to stop offering them to the students not only affecting the students but also the teachers.

According to Hindustan Time’s unnamed source from the standing committee, “This has happened in many colleges, they have stopped offering many languages eventually. The idea behind fixing the number of enrolments is to encourage regular admissions in all languages.”

Image credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat

Antriksha Pathania
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The University of Delhi has mandated all affiliated colleges to give up to 10 additional percentage points to applicants who have studied one or more Modern Indian Languages (MIL) in school if they take admission in BA Programme and take up the language as a subject.

Receiving over 1,34,000 applications last year, BA programme is perhaps the most dependable course offered in Delhi University. Unlike any other course, BA programme gives you an opportunity to study various combinations of subjects.

According to the Varsity’s newly-made rule, an advantage of up to 10 percentage points will be added to an applicant’s ‘best of four’ percentage, if they choose any of the MILs, except Hindi, as one of the subjects in their combination for BA Programme.

Although at first, there were questions raised on the authenticity of this news, a DU official confirmed the veracity of the news and said, “If an applicant opts for a MIL (except Hindi) as a subject, an advantage of up to 10% may be given in ‘best of four’ in those colleges where MIL is offered as a subject. Colleges can offer anything between 2 and 10 percentage points’ advantage.”

Jagmohan Kaushik, a member of the administration department at Deshbandhu College told the DU Beat correspondent, “For years, this system of giving concession to students wanting to study MIL in higher education has been followed, in one form or another, in many colleges.”

For instance, Hindu College gives an additional seven percentage points to those opting for Sanskrit while Kirori Mal College gives additional 10 percentage points to those opting for Bengali as a subject in BA programme.

But now, the Varsity has mandated all affiliated colleges to provide concession up to 10 percentage points to those opting for these subjects. The Modern Indian Languages offered in the university are Sanskrit, Punjabi, Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Bengali and about thirty colleges, including Hindu College, Miranda House, and Kamla Nehru College offer MIL in BA programme.“This encourages students to continue to study MIL at the undergraduate level as they get an advantage due to it,” a university official said.

While University officials said this was an attempt to promote the study of Indian languages at a higher level, not all students have welcomed this decision with open arms. Harleen Kaur, a student currently pursuing BA Programme in Miranda House told DU Beat, “This advantage will result in reverse discrimination for those of us who did not study a MIL at the school level, or those who do not wish to pursue it in higher education.”

Notably, for admission to BA Programme, students have to take one language and any three elective subjects. But those applicants who plan to change their stream will face a disadvantage of up to 5 percentage points depending on which college they apply to.

An official from the Varsity said, “A deduction of up to 5 percentage points on ‘best of four’ percentage may be imposed if there is a change of stream for admission to BA programme, which means either from commerce stream to arts/humanities/social sciences or from science stream to arts/humanities/social sciences.”


Feature Image Credits –  Indian Express 

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

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