Shreysi Mehndiratta, who has scored 98%, stood second in SRCC. “I was just not expecting these marks. Although the exams went well, no one expects to get in 90s, not in Economic Honours at least.” She added, “I can’t really say if DU is doing this just to prove that the semester system is any good because I’m not sure if the result has been the same for all the courses.” On asking her how she changed her mind from engineering to Economic (Honours) even after having science without Economics in school, she said, “I always had an interest in the subject (Economics) and I got the marks to get into the best college for the course.”
Rachit Dua, one of the students who scored 99%, is studying in SRCC. When asked about the result he said, “I was expecting somewhere around 95%, but definitely not a 99%. The paper’s difficulty level was quite normal. It wasn’t very difficult and it wasn’t even easy.” On asking whether he thinks it has been done to vindicate the efficacy of the semester system, he said, “Well, It can be. You never know.”
Gaganpreet Kaur Chadha of SRCC who also scored 99% said, “I was expecting somewhere around 85% as that is the highest anyone expects in Economic Honours, from what I’ve heard. The 99% was quite a surprise really.” When asked further about the unusual result she said, “I think the checking must have been very lenient as there are so many who have scored well. And the papers were also quite easy. So I too feel that this has been done by DU in order to show that changing to the semester system was the right thing to do.”
Milan Bindal of Hindu College is the third top scorer. She said, “Was I expecting this result? No! In previous years, the top scores had gone up to 90. I was aiming for a 92. My only objective was to secure first rank in the University. To be honest, the result is a little shocking. Although I do think students have been rewarded this time for their efforts; moderating doesn’t mean you deduct marks that students deserve in the first place. There was tremendous pressure on us from day 1 and I think that has helped our result. I couldn’t get through SRCC by one mark and I’m glad I joined Hindu College. The faculty has done a great job in giving us a lot of extra time apart from the college hours. The exams were easy and I don’t think we’’ll have such scores in the coming semesters. Also social networks like Facebook don’t fascinate me and I guess that helps me remain focussed. I want to do my majors from London School of Economics.”
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This brings us back to the University. The University obviously has the capacity to induce such a jump and the motive too. It needed something to redeem itself and support its decision to implement the semester system. Thus many people are of the opinion that the University itself has engineered the fiasco. If such is the case, the University must surely be cursing itself. Is it totally oblivious to the first and the most important law followed by all cheaters the world over, to wit, ‘never get a ninety’?
It is very clear why the University cannot make a habit of playing a Santa for its students. Colleges the world over follow a certain calibration of marks and if all of a sudden students start scoring 99 per cent regularly; that calibration may not apply to DU. LSE for example admits students scoring above 70 per cent. I cannot see the college continuing to do the same for DU unless the current crop of first years proves to be full of raving geniuses, our University scores might lose all their credibility. ]]>
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She said the reason the teachers are filing the RTIs is to ask the University if this practice is now being used to boost students’ scores like this. “What we need now is to ask the VC what is happening, what is leading to such a scenario today”, she stated.
Ankita Dhanda
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