The Hindu : New Delhi News : Numbers game at Delhi University

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 15, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Numbers game at Delhi University

Mandira Nayar

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Admission forms being submitted at Zakir Husain College in New Delhi on Wednesday, the penultimate day for submission of forms. Photo : Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI: It is a mammoth exercise that brings man and machine together. An annual pilgrimage to institutions of higher education that most Delhiites have made more than once, the last day for submission of application forms for admission to Delhi University today (Thursday) marks the beginning of a hectic phase for colleges as data are put together for the first cut-off list.

With the University selling 5,000-odd pre-admission forms across 16 centres on the second-last day, the stream of young aspirants looking for a place to study has not really gone down. While there is speculation whether the University has reached the "magic'' figure of 1.54 lakh -- the number of forms sold last year -- officials believe that the numbers have no meaning.

"We are not selling vegetables. There is no need to worry even if the figure is not the same,'' said Dean of Students' Welfare S.K. Vij on Wednesday.

Long queues with young students standing patiently to submit the forms seemed to sum up the situation in colleges and centres across the University on Wednesday. The SC/ST counter at South Campus saw a huge turnout on the penultimate day.

"There are people who don't get their original certificates sometimes and the office needs to verify that. So people have to sometimes come back to submit their forms,'' said an admission counsellor.

Gearing up to meet the last-minute rush on Thursday, the centres have made arrangements so that there is no panic. The counters that usually shut down at 1 p.m. have been working over-time over the past two days and the University officials claim they will make allowances for students who do it exactly on the dot.

"As many as 12,000 forms were submitted on Wednesday. I think there will be many more on Thursday. We have made arrangements and are confident that we can handle the rush. If need be, we will add more counters for submissions,'' said Prof. Vij.

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