St Stephen's slashes cut-off for Christian students

OFF THE MARK: Christian, SC/ST categories require only 60 pc to get into St Stephen's College now.

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Keywords: Quota, Reservation

New Delhi: Delhi University’s St Stephen's College on Wednesday slashed the admission cut-off for Christian and SC/ST students to 60 per cent. A day ago, the college had declared 50 per cent reservation for the two communities.

Not only does that translate into a smaller pool of seats for students who aren’t a part of any of the reserved categories, the college faculty fears that the decision may affect the quality of its students.

Anubhav Prakash, a Stephen’s hopeful, is all set to reserve a seat at one of the Capital's premier educational institutions.

As a Christian, he was eligible for the 50 per cent quota for the category, but with a 62 per cent in hand; the chances of making the cut seemed bleak until the college decided to slash the cut off for Christian students to 60 per cent.

“I woke up in the morning and while going through the front page of the papers, I saw the cut off,” Prakash said.

The college's highest decision-making body, the supreme council, argues the move was unavoidable. He says relaxing the cut off was the only way to fill in seats for the Christian quota, which would have otherwise remained vacant.

“Our greatest concern is a shortfall in filling up seats for Christians. So to address the situation that shouldn't have arisen, the Bishop issued a letter of 60 per cent being the base for at least the interview,” Spokesperson, St Stephen’s College, Sunil Mathew explained.

Members of the faculty, however, see no reason lowering cut offs.

“If the idea of further relaxation is to fill in the seats, then it does not serve any purpose because we already get suitable candidates after 15 per cent relaxation,” HoD, History and Political Science, Rohit Wanchoo said.

But even as the debate rages on, the biggest fear is that premium on merit will be at stake.