Miranda House is set to expand its residential capacity with a 120-bed hostel reserved for students from economically weaker sections and persons with disabilities, to be funded through CSR support.
Miranda House is planning a 120-bed hostel exclusively for students from economically weaker sections and persons with disabilities, a move that would take the college’s total residential capacity from around 370 seats to nearly 490.
The proposed hostel will come up at the rear of the existing hostel complex within the college campus. It will be funded through Corporate Social Responsibility support, and construction is expected to take around two years once the college receives the necessary approvals from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and other competent authorities. An artist’s impression of the project is expected to be ready within the next two weeks, after which design and planning work will move forward.
Principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said the new hostel is aimed at improving access to higher education for students who often face financial and accessibility challenges. She said it would provide significant relief to girls coming to Delhi from other states for their studies. The hostel will have study rooms, internet connectivity, a dining hall, common areas, and secure residential facilities.
The expansion addresses a gap that has persisted for years. DU admits over 71,600 undergraduate students every year across its colleges, while the university and individual colleges together have only a fraction of that number in hostel seats. At Miranda House, hostel applications significantly outnumber available seats each year, pushing many students, particularly those from outside Delhi, towards rented accommodation at considerably higher costs.
Reserving the new hostel specifically for EWS and PwD students reflects a recognition that these two groups face the sharpest difficulty in securing affordable on-campus housing. For a lot of students, the cost of private accommodation in North Campus frequently runs higher than their total annual college fees.
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Image Source: Miranda house official
Abhishek Goverdhan
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