The admission process and education at universities and colleges in the national capital underwent a radical overhaul this year with the introduction of a common admission test and the adoption of the new national education policy. By moving away from the old practices of admitting students, universities have adopted all or part of the Common University Entrance Test from the 2022-23 academic session.
While the Delhi University (DU) admitted students based on their class 12 grades, the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) had separate admission tests for admission to undergraduate courses.
The CUET has become the second largest admission test in the country, after the Joint Entrance Examination-Mains (JEE) for engineering colleges, with over 14.9 lakh aspirants.
Conducted for the first time this year by the National Testing Agency, the CUET was widely criticized with last-minute changes to exam centres, mass cancellation and postponement of exams and delayed schedules leaving candidates in a tight spot.
Read | To take CUET route or not: Jamia will probably decide in January
Delhi University has admitted students to 79 undergraduate programs in 67 of its colleges, departments and centers through the new admission process. In September, it had also launched an online platform for those seeking admission through the common seat allocation system.
Through the CUET, JNU led admissions to 10 undergraduate courses, the majority of which are in its bachelor of arts (honours) foreign language courses.
However, some varsities, including JMI, have partially adopted the CUET process. JMI admitted students to 10 courses through the common test, while admission to other programs was made through an exam administered by the varsity.
These 10 courses include: Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Turkish Language and Literature, Sanskrit, French and Francophone Studies, Spanish and Latin American Studies, History, Hindi and Economics, Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and Physics, and Bachelor of Vocation in solar energy .
From this academic session, Universities have implemented the National Education Policy-2020 (NEP) proposing reforms in both school and higher education, including technical education, with an emphasis on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages, holistic and multidisciplinary education with multiple in- and exit options.
The new policy supersedes the 1986 National Policy on Education (NPE) and aims to universalize education from pre-school through secondary school with a gross enrollment rate of 100 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2025.
Delhi University became the first central university to adopt the four-year undergraduate curriculum mandated by the NEP-2020. JMI and JNU also implement the policy.
Early in the year, as the Covid situation improved across the country, calls for universities to reopen became louder.
Student organizations staged protests in Delhi demanding major universities switch from online to offline education.
They claimed that as campuses were closed for nearly two years and education was online, the “standard of education had dropped”, and students from lower income and rural areas were unable to access virtual learning devices. In February, DU, JNU and JMI were among the varsities in the national capital to begin physical mode classes for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
The CUET coupled with the pandemic also slowed down the academic calendar in varsities including the University of Delhi, drawing criticism.
In this year, JNU got its first female vice chancellor with Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, a political science professor and an alumna of the university, appointed to the post. The 59-year-old had completed her M.Phil and Ph.D in international relations from JNU.
Pandit started her teaching career at Goa University in 1988 and transferred to Pune University in 1993. She held administrative positions in various academic bodies and was also a member of the University Grants Commission, the Indian Council of Social Science Research and Visitor Nominee to Central Universities.
The prominent institution was in the spotlight for a clash between students in April and later in December after walls of one of its buildings were plastered with “anti-Brahmin” slogans.
Clashes broke out in one of the hostels in April after the JNU Students’ Union – led by the left-wing All India Students’ Association – alleged that members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had dissuaded residents from eating non-vegetarian food . . The ABVP was also accused of attacking the mess secretary of the Kaveri Hostel.
The ABVP had denied the allegations, claiming that “leftists” had obstructed a puja program at the hostel on Ram Navami. Both sides accused each other of pelting stones and injuring their members.
In December, “anti-Brahmin” slogans were written on several walls of a JNU building, the pictures of which were widely shared on social media.
The year also witnessed a tussle between the University of Delhi and its constituent university St. Stephen’s over the application process for admission.
While the college declined to abolish the interview, DU had said it is “resolute” in its decision to declare “null and void” any college admissions that violate CUET guidelines.
In letters exchanged between the college and the varsity, St. Stephen’s said it will give 85 percent weight to the CUET score and 15 percent to physical interviews for “all categories of candidates.”
The case went to the Delhi High Court, which in September ordered St. Stephen’s to follow the university’s admission policy. The college then knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court, which refused to stay on the order of the Supreme Court, ending the battle.
This year, ad hoc teachers also demanded to be accommodated through one-off regulation.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed)