After decades of admissions through cutoffs based on class XII marks, DU has adopted the entrance test based admission system last year. In 2021, the last year of cut-off based admissions, 10 programmes across colleges had a set 100% cutoff.
At a time when a new government is about to take shape and a political debate regarding caste based and religion based reservation is quite hot, The University of Delhi has done something remarkable.
Delhi University began its admission process for the 2024-25 academic year for undergraduate courses. Like last year, admission to all programmes are based on scores obtained in CUET. For undergraduate aspirants, on offer are around 71,000 seats for 79 undergraduate programmes and 183 BA programme combinations in 69 colleges. After decades of admissions through cutoffs based on class XII marks, DU has adopted the entrance test based admission system last year. In 2021, the last year of cut-off based admissions, 10 programmes across colleges had a set 100% cutoff.
This year, while the general admission policy remains largely unchanged, the university has introduced a significant update by allocating reservations for single girl children across all programs as part of the supernumerary seats. Supernumerary seats are over and above the sanctioned Intake approved by the appropriate authority.
This new quota will allocate one seat per course in every college to a single girl child, based on merit. But one challenge which DU could face is how to identify the authenticity of the candidate who will apply through this quota. The specifics of identifying eligible single girl child candidates are still being finalised by the university.
As stated by DU Registrar Vikas Gupta, This initiative, a first for the university, aims to provide more opportunities for single girl children. This new policy is part of DU's ongoing commitment to enhance inclusivity in its admission processes.
Though it's a great initiative, this is not the first time such reservation has been introduced in India, Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country had the single girl child reservation but was reportedly removed for admissions in 2024-25 academic year. The Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) single girl child reservation was removed by the Union Education Ministry without any clear explanation. The decision was met with opposition from various quarters, including the Minister for General Education in Kerala, V. Sivankutty, who urged the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to reconsider the decision and reinstate the quota.
Additionally, some states in India have implemented single girl child reservations in their educational institutions. For instance, the state of Uttar Pradesh introduced a 10% reservation for single girl children in government schools and colleges in 2019.
This initiative of DU builds on last year’s introduction of a supernumerary category that facilitated admissions for orphans, allotting seats to one male and one female orphan per course in each college.
Through the quota, Delhi University has made itself more accessible to aspirants who have lost both parents. Around 80 students got admission this year under the supernumerary quota and their tuition fees have also been waived.
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