3,548 matric students get the stick 
for adopting unfair means 
Our Correspondent

Bhiwani, June 18
The Haryana School Education Board has punished 3548 candidates, out of total 3,608, who were booked for adopting unfair means during the Matric Annual Examination-2003. The Board has debarred several candidates for one to three years, whereas in certain cases, the papers of such candidates have been cancelled. Only 60 candidates have been exonerated.

A spokesman of the Board said that this step had been taken to eradicate the evil practice of copying. He said that last year 2,520 candidates were caught for using unfair means, out of which 1,347 were punished and 1,173 were exonerated.

He also further informed that the Board had constituted six committees for hearing these cases.

These committees decided about 700 cases daily, from June 13 to June 17. The committees heard the candidates personally and gave their decision on merits of the case.

He said that the papers of 124 candidates were cancelled as they had been caught using unfair means.

The spokesperson informed that this year, 2,816 candidates were debarred for one year, 528 for two years and 49 for three years. The number of candidates who were declared ineligible for one session this year was 31.

It is for the first time during the last five years, that the Board had adopted stern measures for such a large number of guilty candidates, he said.

Last year, of the 1,347 candidates who were given punishment, 631 candidates were given only a lenient punishment of cancellation of paper, he added.

CAMPUS
Racing against time, the hopefuls keep 
their fingers crossed
Smriti Kak

Even as the rain God smiled on the national Capital, students at the Delhi University, clutching papers and umbrellas raced against time to submit their admission forms to the various undergraduate courses. Rushing from one college to another on the final day for the submission of forms, nothing would be a better reward for their hard work than an admission to one of the colleges of Delhi University.

Among these students, a large number of them were the hopefuls from Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where the Class XII results had been declared only recently.

“We have heard from our seniors in school about the prospects of studying in the national Capital. Apart from the quality education and the well stocked libraries in the city, it is the exposure that Delhi University provides that has bought us here,” said Ravinder Pal Singh, who has come all the way from Uttar Pradesh.

Interestingly, these outstation students are aware of the fact that nearly two lakh admission forms have been submitted for the nearly one lakh seats available in the various courses, of which approximately 45,000 seats are in colleges with regular courses.

Now with the admission procedure in its last lap, students are keeping their fingers crossed, particularly when one considers the fact that nearly 22 lakh admission forms were sold during the current session.

“There is no harm in trying, if you have the marks then there are good chances that you can get admission to a course of your choice,” pointed out Shveta Bhasin, who has come from Shimla “to try her luck”.

Limited hostel facilities in the colleges are “concerns” that most of these outstation students would have to give a thought to in their endeavour to study in the national Capital.

Most of the students are left to find “suitable accommodation” for themselves in areas adjoining the university. “We will have to stay with friends from back home till we get a decent place of our own. Since we are girls and stories of Delhi being unsafe reach as far as the North-East, our parents are a worried lot, especially when we are told that finding a place is not so easy here,” said Michelle, a student from Nagaland. The university will put up the first admission list on June 25. “What worries me most is that the top colleges will probably not put out a second list,” adds Michelle, who with her 78 per cent is keeping her “fingers crossed”.

Contributing their mite in their own ways

You may be tempted to brush it off as a mere gimmick to win votes, but the various students’ union and organisations insist that they are doing “their bit for the students and the university”.

After the fracas on the very first day of the admission rigmarole when DUSU had a showdown with the Delhi Police, the various students’ union and organisations would rather have you look at the work they claim they are doing to help the students.

After DUSU went on to expound their intents of helping students, it was time for the NSUI to shed light on their performance. “We realised that students faced problems because there were not enough drinking water facilities available on the campus, so we set up drinking water counters in the various colleges,” pointed out the spokesperson of the NSUI.

The NSUI claimed, “we supplied about 15,000 litres of water on the first two days”. And if that was not enough, they have also taken up the issue of extending the last date for the submission of admission forms with the authorities. “Ashok Basoya, our representative in DUSU, has met the Registrar and the Dean of Students Welfare in this regard.

“It is unfair that students who have come from far of places are deprived of an opportunity to submit their forms. An extension of couple of days should be provided for submitting the admission forms,” said the NSUI spokesperson.

Course on Nursing

In order to improve the existing nurse patient ratio, it is expected that at least six lakh nurses will have to be employed, leading to a growth of 36 per cent in the employment of registered nurses by 2010. With nursing being a specialised job, the Amity Nursing College has decided to offer training in this field.

Students with Class XII certificate in Science can apply for admission, which are made as per the criterion laid down by the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. The course commencing in July spans seven semesters and would include papers on Microbiology, Nutrition, Sociology, Anatomy and Community Health Nursing.

Admission blues in Delhi University 
C D Verma

It is time for admission to colleges. Many colleges have decided to hold entrance tests for admission to some prestigious courses, including English (Hons.) and Economics (Hons.), abandoning the practice of admitting the students on the basis of their marks in the plus-two examination. If one examines the pros and cons of this system, one finds that cons are more than the pros.

I have been teaching in a premier institution of Delhi University for over three decades. When I go down the memory lane, I find that the Delhi University is no longer what it used to be.

Then the teachers were appointed on pure merit. Admission in the colleges was not as arduous a proposition as it is today. Students got admission in the courses of their choice on the basis of percentage of marks they had obtained in their plus-two examination. There was no discrimination and no hassles. And no entrance test was held for admission to any course in any college.

However, over the years, things took a downturn. Merit has been given a go by in the appointment of teachers and the admission of students. Extraneous considerations rule the roost. As an insider, I have a story to substantiate my point.

A few years ago, it was decided to hold an entrance test for admission to English (Hons.) course in the institution I continue to teach. What happened is a sad tale.

The results of the entrance test brought out the dilemma that students who had obtained 65 or 70 per cent marks in their plus-two examination managed to make the merit list, while those with 80 or 85 per cent marks could not make the grade. There was brouhaha in the college. The meritorious examinees and their parents leveled charges of corruption, nepotism and favouritism on the college authorities.

The staff council of the college, a statutory body, took up the matter as it suspected something fishy. After a vociferous and acrimonious discussion, the staff council, in its collective wisdom decided that in future there would be no entrance test for admission to any course. Marks obtained in the plus two examinations would be the only criterion for admission.

This is not an isolated incident. Some of the other colleges, which had also opted for entrance tests, eventually discarded the practice, as it was not found to be equitable and faultless.

This year, however, several of the colleges of Delhi University have announced entrance tests for courses such as English, Economies, Journalism and Business Economics. What happened in the college mentioned above is likely to happen again, and create an ugly situation.

Entrance tests can certainly not be the true test of one’s intelligence and knowledge.

Can one form an opinion about the aptitude of a student merely on the basis of an entrance test? It would be erroneous to assume so.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the entrance test for admission to any course is fraught with pessimistic possibilities. Teachers, human beings as they are, can err, and those who are unscrupulous and have itching palms, can err to the detriment of the career of young students.

Besides, the entrance tests make a mockery of the examinations conducted by CBSE. If the marks obtained in plus two examination of the CBSE are not sacrosanct, then better scrap the CBSE.

It is high time the Delhi University stopped the holding of entrance tests and made the marks obtained in the plus two examination the basis for admission in the interest of the students, equity, transparency and fair-play.

COURTS

Court refuses bail to scientist, wife and son
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 18
A Delhi court has rejected the bail plea of a scientist, his wife and son, who were arrested on the charge of causing the death of the wife of their son for not bringing enough dowry.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said considering the facts and circumstances that the deceased committed suicide within four-and-a-half months of her marriage coupled with the demand for dowry, the bail application stood disposed. The prosecution had alleged that B B Singh, an agriculture scientist at the Pusa institute, his wife and son Anand Singh frequently demanded dowry from the deceased, Kajal, a medical student.

It is alleged the accused had begun pressing them for a Toyota Qualis and jewellery. The deceased, a final year student of National Medical College, Kolkata, tied the knot with Anand in January this year and had come to the Capital on June 1 after her exams.

The incident occurred on June 9 when Kajal was found hanging by her dupatta from the latch of the cupboard door and a suicide note was found near the body. Complainant’s counsel Rakesh Malhotra disputed the handwriting of the deceased in the suicide note and sought an expert opinion on it from the Central Forensic Chemical Laboratory.