DU Admissions 2014: Chaos on Day 1

Turmoil, mismanagement and a website crash piled on the misery for aspirants, even as Delhi University sold 15,000 fewer forms on the first day of admissions compared to last year. The much-touted online admission interface didn’t come through for a large percentage of students. The website was down for close to an hour in the morning, and was sluggish for the remainder of the day, easing up a little only in the evening.

According to university officials, more than 30,000 aspirants were trying to access the site at one point, making the whole process painfully slow.

Monday’s fiasco is forcing candidates to buy over-the-counter forms, even though the university claims that the rush will moderate now. DU has been encouraging students to apply online. The facility was first provided in 2012.

32,460 over-the-counter forms changed hands this time, as opposed to 42,860 in 2013. Online registrations too witnessed a dip, at 2,345. The figure was 7,385 the previous year.

The scenes outside Daulat Ram College (DRC) – one of the centres in north campus – that attracted the maximum number of applicants were frenzied, with hundreds of students queuing up on the roads and the footpaths. The college refused to open the gates, and many were forced to leave empty-handed even after standing in line for over two hours.

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The institute also made the poor decision to have separate counters for general and SC/ST students.

“We started independent counters after being unable to manage the crowd at the gate. We will have a better mechanism in place starting Tuesday,” said Daya Aggarwal, principal, DRC.

Other centres in north campus – Hans Raj College and SGTB Khalsa College – were better managed, though primarily because most aspirants landed up at DRC to purchase forms.

According to the varsity, the forms are available between 9am and 1pm at 18 centres across Delhi, while aspirants can download them on the website 24/7.

Source: hindustantimes.com