Cut-offs stun students,govt says on your side

Sibal was critical of the 100 per cent cut-off at SRCC in one category for B Com (Hons): “The idea is to exclude everybody in the science stream. This is completely irrational… I was sad to hear it. I want to reach out to parents and students and tell them don’t worry. We are on your side.”

He assured students and parents that he “will take care of this irrationality”.

DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh,who was present at the press conference called by Sibal,sought to allay fears,assuring students of lower cut-offs in the four lists still to be declared. The high-cut off,he said,was largely because of the high scores achieved by students in school leaving examinations.

“Last year,in CBSE examination,students who scored more than 95 per cent were 200. This year,there are 800,” he said.

SRCC principal P C Jain defended the 100 per cent cut-off. “This is a screening process. We have to take some students out from thousands who apply. The criteria has been developed keeping in view who can give the best input to the college.”

Why should science students go for commerce when they can go for engineering,Jain countered Sibal. “Commerce students are not allowed to enter IITs or medicine. So,where will our students go?”

SRCC Head of Department of Commerce Dr Sneh Lata Gupta said the cut-offs had to kept high due to lack of pre-admission forms in this year’s admission process and high CBSE exam scores.

“We have to prevent over-admission. The 100 per cent cut-off is only for Category E students,” she said. No one was admitted from General Category E for B Com (Hons) in the college last year,she said.

The uncertainty due to absence of pre-admission forms was cited as reason by other professors too.

“We know this is a type of harassment of students,but colleges have no other way to deal with the uncertainty. The problem is the dismantling of the centralised admission forms,” said Dr Rakesh Ranjan,Assistant Professor,SRCC.

“It is a practical thing to do,” said Swathi,a second-year B Com (Hons) student at SRCC,who had scored 99 per cent in Class XII. “At a college like this,teachers expect you to know something about commerce. How would a person with no background cope? The point is to exclude students with no background in commerce,” she said.