As cut-offs rise students knock at SOL doors

Nikita, Tripti and Anjali, waiting outside the School of Open Learning (SOL) gates on a hot June morning have only one thing in common - marks below 70 per cent and they are realistic enough to know that they have no way of getting into a Delhi University college.

The SOL, the only way out for people with low scores and for working boys and girls who cannot attend regular college. However, SOL is yet to open its gates for admissions, sparking off rumours that the School that admits approximately 150,000 correspondence students for bachelors degrees every year is all set to shut shop. “We have bought the normal optical mark recognition (OMR) forms but with our marks we do not think we can get into any DU colleges which are located within easy reach,” said Nikita, who has scored around 68 per cent.

Delhi University has a lot of colleges that are located on the outskirts of the city, some as far as Bawana and other hard to reach places. These are the ones with lower cut-offs and are not really sought after.

“We get at least 20 students every day with marks ranging from 50 to 70 per cent, they all come here asking us which college they will get into, and we tell them that the SOL is their only way out but the admission dates have not been announced yet. As there is so much confusion regarding the status that we tell them to come back every two days and check. These students are those who do not usually check the internet,” said Saket Bahuguna, a volunteer at a DU admission centre.

The grapevine also has it that only skill-based vocational courses may be offered from this academic year onwards and this has prompted protests from SOL’s teachers and students' union.

“These are rumours. That is all. We have not made any move to convert the courses,” said Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh when questioned about the issue earlier.

University officials, who did not wish to be named, however, said that the SOL was known to have high drop out rates and low pass rates.

“We met everyone in the SOL administration, they say they do not know anything and to speak to the Vice-Chancellor who of course will never meet us. The students’ fear is not unfounded because the admission dates are not announced,” said Md. Shahnawaz, the union president, whose group the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan has been taking out protests every day since the admissions began. On Wednesday, it also met officials at the University Grants Commission.

“Apparently there was a UGC letter that ordered the university to either bring down all its degrees on an equal footing or else stop offering dual degrees on different conditions. Therefore, the university is seeking to take away all the degrees it is currently offering and plans to call an Academic Council meeting soon to get this course of action approved,” said Janmejoy Khuntia, a member of the SOL Staff Association which has already staged some protests in front of the Director and Executive Director's office in the SOL premises.

Neither the Director nor Executive Director of SOL were available for their comments.

The SOL admitted a record number of students in one day -- 4,800 to be exact -- in the last admission season. It also received a mention in the Limca Book of Records for this feat.