From 120 to 1: CUET effect shows on Kerala board students in Hindu College course

The B.A. (Hons) Political Science programme in Hindu College was one of the 10 programmes in DU last year where the first list cutoff for unreserved seats was 100% (best of four subjects). The Indian Express had reported that on the first day of admissions, the programme had received 102 applications from students who met the cutoff, of which 101 were from Kerala board.

With the adoption of CUET this year, admissions are now based on candidates’ CUET scores and the college-course preferences listed by them. The B.A. (Hons) Political Science programme in Hindu College is a top draw of top scorers in CUET.

The Indian Express had spoken to 51 students who had scored 800/800 in CUET, and 14 of them had listed this programme as their first preference.

According to a professor in the Political Science department of Hindu College, most of the students admitted so far are from CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) schools, while a smaller number are from CISCE (Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations) schools – both national boards. Most of those admitted in the unreserved seats have CUET scores in the range of 795/800 to 800/800.

Similarly, in Ramjas College, which also admitted a large number of Kerala board students in its B.A. (Hons) Political Science (100% first cutoff) and B.A. programme courses last year, most of the new admissions this year are CBSE students.

Govind, working secretary of Maithry – a Kerala students’ association in DU – said fewer students from the state had approached them with admission queries this year. However, he said, this could be because it was the first year of CUET.

“This is the first time that this process was introduced, because of which many students say they didn’t get time for preparation. The CUET is based on NCERT syllabus, which is taught in CBSE schools and is different from the state board syllabus, so the students will have to prepare separately for it. The number of students from Kerala this year is lower, particularly in North Campus colleges. We got only a handful of queries from students admitted to colleges like Hindu or Ramjas,” he said.

After last year’s admissions, the push to shift to an entrance exam-based admission process first came after a DU panel flagged unequal admission opportunities for students of different boards, and recommended that a common entrance test be held, conducted either by the university or through an external agency.

The panel had pointed out disparities in the average scores of students from the five boards with the highest admissions till the second cutoff list. The Kerala board students who got admitted had an average Class XII score of 98.43%; followed by Rajasthan board students with 94.68%; Haryana board students with 92.69%; CISCE students with 92.33%; and CBSE students with 91.3%.

Earlier this year, when The Indian Express spoke to 103 of the 114 students who had scored 100 percentile in at least four CUET papers, only one was not from a national board – she was from Jamia Millia Islamia’s school board. Of the rest, 100 were from CBSE and two from CISCE.