Perfect score: What it takes to get into Delhi University
NEW DELHI, INDIA: An Indian student stand in a queue to get admission forms at the Hindu College in New Delhi, 01 June 2005. Thousands of students from all over India, who succeeded in their higher secondary examinations, seek admission in the prestigious Delhi University which offers more than 90,000 seats.
The moment that Indian students have been dreading has finally arrived: the admissions cutoff for the most sought after college program at Delhi University has reached 100 percent — meaning it takes a perfect score on the country's standardized entrance exam to get a spot.
Education Minister Kapil Sibal has already stepped in to call the perfect score cutoff "irrational," reports the Times of India. But to university authorities, it is anything but. There's only place for around 12 percent of the country's school age population in India's relatively scant universities, and DU is, arguably, the most sought after of them all. How else to decide who to admit but with the standardized test — even if it is arbitrary?
The first cut-off for BCom (H) at the Shri Ram College of Commerce released on Tuesday reached 100%, the paper said. Meanwhile, CNN/IBN writes that getting college admissions has become as competitive as landing shares in one of India's most sought after IPOs — which are usually snapped up immediately in the expectation of guaranteed returns when the stock is listed on the market.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.