Colleges struggle with student overload

Dyal Singh’s is not the only case. Miranda House has filled “double to one-and-a-half times” its allotted seats in most courses,according to principal Pratibha Jolly.

Ramjas College principal Rajendra Prasad said while there have been withdrawals,but the initial admission of 249 students against 60 seats in BSc (Hons) Chemistry has still not normalised.

Dyal Singh,it seems,got its cut-off calculation slightly wrong. Taking cue from its previous year’s cut-off of 48 per cent,the college kept the first cut-off for BSc Physical Science as 65 per cent. This was brought down to 58 per cent in the second list. That was when the trouble started.

The 427 students that Dyal Singh has at present,do not include those from the SC,ST or physically handicapped quota.

There are two sections for the course,but that may not be sufficient. “I have to talk to my teachers before taking any decision. We cannot have more sections,as UGC grants are linked to the sanctioned strength,” said principal I S Bakshi.

This means more students will be packed into a theory class,which usually holds half of the sanctioned 185 seats. Practical classes could be a nightmare. “We usually set up practicals for 25 students,hoping that only about 20 will turn up. There is no space in the lab for more. If the admissions remain the same,it would be close to impossible to handle practicals: we would have to give each experiment to seven students,” said a teacher.

The college has also made its attendance rules stricter this year,which means most classes would be close to full capacity.

Hindu College principal V K Srivastava thinks starting evening shifts in colleges could be a solution. “The solution is to have another section,and appoint guest faculty. However,infrastructure is a problem. I think colleges should start thinking of staggering classes,even start an evening shift,” he said.

Colleges like Miranda House cannot hire guest faculty as there will be “audit objections”,as the UGC do not allow more teachers to be hired to compensate for the extra intake of students.