SOL,External Cell merger puts students in limbo

Due to the recent increase in the eligibility criteria to 40 per cent for admission to BA courses in SOL,candidates with scores in the range of 33 to 39 per cent will now be denied the opportunity of acquiring a degree from DU.

The External Cell was launched to provide educational opportunities to students from low-income groups who could not make it to DU colleges due to the admission criteria. The cell enrolled students living in and around Delhi and belonging to financially underprivileged backgrounds,and those who had barely scored passing marks in their Class XII exams.

While it functioned directly under the supervision of the university before 2009,it was merged with the School Of Open Learning (SOL) last year. The last time admissions to the cell were conducted was in 2008. Over 10,000 students who were enrolled in the External Cell are currently pursuing graduation from SOL.

J Khuntia,member of the Academic Council,said,“The decision of the merger was taken due to a lack of student support for the Cell’s services as well as the administrative issues in its functioning.”

The eligibility criteria for admissions to SOL and the External Cell for the BA and B Com courses is the same — 33 per cent in Class XII exams.

Those from lower income groups who do qualify will now have to pay higher fees at the SOL. When it existed,students enrolling with the External Cell had to pay about Rs 1,000 less in tuition fee as compared to SOL students.

Unlike correspondence courses,students pursuing a degree through the External Cell were not provided any study material nor had any contact classes. They just had to appear for the examinations,though passing them was difficult without access to study material,DU faculty members said.

Tapan Biswal,faculty member at SOL,said,“The reason given by the DU for the merger was to provide quality education to students enrolled and make our study material available to them.”

Khuntia said,“The cell was formed at the time when DU had the exclusive territorial advantage of running degree courses in Delhi. At that time its importance was felt as many students were deprived of higher education due to poor marks or shortage of money.”