There has been an increase of 34.3% in the number of registrations under the Persons with Disability (PwD) category at Delhi University.
A total of 1,594 aspirants have registered under the PwD category for undergraduate programmes this year, as compared to 1,187 in 2017. This increase in the percentage has been witnessed after the move to increase PwD quota from 3% to 5% for undergraduate admissions in the university.
Anil K. Aneja, OSD, Equal Opportunity Cell, Delhi University, said the increase in the number of applications is because of the addition of categories under PwD quota this year. “Ever year we see an increase of 5% to 10% in the number of applications registered under PwD quota, but this year the increase is much higher. We had 21 categories this year under which an aspirant could apply for the PwD quota. The increase is clearly due to the increase in the number of categories,” said Dr. Aneja.
Other disabilities
Till last year, candidates seeking admission under the PwD category could only register under the physical disability category which included visual disability, hearing disability and orthopedic disability.
This year, several new categories such as intellectual disability, mental behaviour, disability caused due to chronic neurological conditions and blood disorder and multiple disabilities have been added under the PwD quota.
A total of 209 candidates registered under the new categories this year. The number of candidates registered under physical disability category this year increased to 1,385 from 1,187 in 2016. This year acid attack victims were also given a chance to register for undergraduate admissions under the PwD quota, in the physical disability category.