The years spent studying at the Delhi University are generally enjoyable for most students who are new to the Capital. But, the same is not always true for their differently-abled counterparts whose main concern is finding accommodation on the campus.
As per records of the Delhi University, nearly 1,250 differently-abled students are enrolled under various courses in the university at present.
This year, a total of 1,031 applications under the differently-abled category were received. Even if all the applicants manage to secure a seat, the number of admissions would still be lesser than the number of seats under the reserved percentage, i.e. 3 per cent, for the category. However, despite the less number of students, not all of them manage to get a seat in their college hostels.
To address this issue, the DU administration has dedicated a wing of the newly-constructed Rajeev Gandhi hostel in Mukherjee Nagar to differently-abled students. In addition to this, all college hostels have a 3 per cent reservation for them. But, this does not seem to be sufficient as many students who either study in off-campus colleges or are not able to get a seat in their respective college hostels are forced to stay in private accommodations.
“People help me whenever they can, and generally my room-mates are quite helpful. But, the university administration itself is not doing enough to solve our problems,” said Ram Karan Singh, a visually-impaired student at the SGTB Khalsa College.
“I could not get a seat in the college hostel. As a result I have to stay in a private accommodation. I face problems in travelling. Most of the times there is no one to escort us. The university should take care of these problems,” he added.
On being asked about the issues differently-abled students encounter, a university official said: “For students who are not able to get accommodation in college and university hostels, the DU administration tries to get a private accommodation near their college so that the student does not face any problem.”
To address the issue, the DU administration
has dedicated a wing
of the newly-constructed Rajeev Gandhi hostel
in Mukherjee Nagar
to differently-abled students. Also, all college hostels have
a 3 per cent reservation for students
