Stephen’s teachers demand meet on admission policy

NEW DELHI: The staff association of St Stephen’s College has decided to request the principal to hold a staff council meeting to discuss the changes in the admission policy passed by the governing body (GB).
The governing body, on March 14, decided to hold aptitude tests for all undergraduate courses from this year and increase the merit differential percentage from 20% to 25% for those who come under Church of North India (CNI) and Church of North India Delhi (CNI-D). The college, which offers 10 undergraduate courses, has also decided to hike the admission fees.

Claiming that the decision was taken without consulting teachers, the association held a meeting on Wednesday. “The decision on aptitude tests is a purely academic matter, but GB took a decision without discussing it with teachers. In the past, departments had said they couldn’t hold such tests,” said a teacher.

In 2015, the then principal, Valson Thampu, introduced aptitude tests along with an interview. While 15 marks were assigned to the test and the interview, the rest was calculated on the basis of Class XII marks. However, last year, the aptitude tests were not held for honours courses in physics and chemistry.

As principal John Varghese is the chairperson of the staff council, teachers have decided to write to him.

Doubts were also raised over increasing the fees by 6-7%. “Other trust-run colleges are not increasing the fees. We have decided to compare the fees and find out whether our funds are being used appropriately,” said the teacher. The amount collected from the college’s language courses also came up for discussion.

On increasing the merit differential percentage, teachers said they would “examine” the decision. “Though there are academic concerns, we should examine if this is being done as they are not being able to fill up the seats,” a teacher said. Despite repeated attempts, the principal couldn’t be contacted.