With admissions going completely online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and students not allowed to enter colleges, everything will change starting Monday.(Representational image)For years, the undergraduate admission season at Delhi University (DU) has seen large crowds thronging colleges, with aspirants and their parents queuing up for long hours to secure a seat in the course and college of their choice. However, with admissions going completely online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and students not allowed to enter colleges, everything will change starting Monday.
Admission procedure
Once the cut-off is announced, a candidate will be required to pick a college and course to which they are eligible on their dashboard. “Once they make a pick, the data will go to the head of department in the college and they will be required to verify all the documents. Once satisfied, they will approve it and it will go to the Admission Committee convenor of the college and finally the principal. After final approval, the student will be alerted to pay the fee online and the process will be completed,” said Dean Admissions Shobha Bagai.
Students will get five days — until Friday — to submit their fee. “The admission is not confirmed simply by the principal’s approval; it is only confirmed when the fee is deposited. Based on the data of Day 5 evening, one would be able to determine the cut-off for the next list. So every Friday evening, data of that round’s admission will be prepared, and every Saturday there will be a new cut-off list,” said Hindu College Principal Anju Srivastava. She said colleges also needed to “generate daily reports by 5-6 pm on applications approved by the principal, applications denied, and pending applications”.
Kirori Mal College Principal Vibha Chauhan said, “If we are declining admission, we need to give a reason behind it to the aspirant . If there is any problem while checking certificates, we are supposed to call the student and tell them to email their certificate to cross verify it. Unless it’s a very serious discrepancy, we will accept it, because these admissions, strictly speaking, remain provisional till they physically come to college with their documents.” For any problems, students are supposed to contact members of the college’s grievance committee — contacts of whom will be available on college websites. However, they are not allowed to enter the college campus.
Staff presence inside college
Presence of teachers and non-teaching staff at the time of admissions will depend on decisions taken at the college level, and will vary. Kalindi College, for example, has called all teachers to college, raising concerns of safety. Most colleges, however, have kept it flexible.
“We have kept it open for teachers. Some have better internet arrangements at home so they will work remotely, others will come to college. We will, however, have much more non-teaching staff than beforeas it’s new area that we are treading into, so we want it to be fool proof,” said Srivastava. Chauhan added, “We expect many teachers to come to college but some may be unable to do so. For example, one teacher has a Covid patient in her family so she cannot come, and there are others who have online classes. The option has been left to them.”
Preparations for the first day
The one big priority for all colleges Sunday was to ensure students are kept away from visiting colleges Monday, and make adequate arrangements for teachers who will be visiting their respective colleges for the admission process. “We have got a strong advisory from the varsity to not allow students inside colleges. . We also must make arrangements accordingly for more guards. Arrangements for connectivity and sanitisation for those visiting tomorrow will also be need to arranged today,” said Srivastava.
Chauhan said major announcements will be put up as notices on gates for students, including contact details of grievance committee members. “We have opened and sanitised our computer labs and other rooms. Teachers have their rosters and they know when to come, and we have made preparations for social distancing,” she said.
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