Summary
Delhi University records highest intake of students from CBSE, followed by Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education; the lowest student intake has been from Rajasthan
It indicates a significant variation in the marking scheme across the school boards of India
Delhi University (DU) has recorded the second highest number of admissions to undergraduate courses from the Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education, much more than the state boards of neighbouring Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Such unexpected numbers have led to many questions regarding the marking scheme and examination method of the boards.
A nine-member committee was formed by DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh with the dean of examinations, D S Rawat, to gauge the reason why the Kerala board students secured admission in such huge numbers, and why students from other boards didn’t get as many seats for undergraduate courses.
The admission was considered on a cut-off basis. The committee found out that out of 39 boards, the highest number of students applying and seeking admissions into DU were from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), while the Kerala board stood second. The mean admission percentage from Kerala board is 98.34%, which is the highest among all state boards.
About 37,767 students admitted to Delhi University were from the CBSE board; 1,890 were from Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education; 1,824 students were from the Board of School Education, Haryana; 1,606 from Indian School Certificate (ISC); and about 1,329 from the Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan.
“These five boards contributed more than 90% of the applicants who have taken admission at the undergraduate level,” read the report put together by the DU committee.
The report also stated that the data regarding the board-wise mean admission percentage of students admitted indicates that the five boards, which constitute more than 90% of the admissions, have varied mean percentages. It indicates a significant variation in the marking scheme across the school boards of India, which requires an appropriate benchmarking for instilling significant equity in the process of admissions at the undergraduate level.
“The data indicates that the total number of admissions of the applicants of the Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education, a state in a certain part of the country, is higher than the total number of admissions of Board of School Education Haryana, Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan, U P Board of High School & Intermediate Education, Board of Secondary Education Madhya Pradesh and Punjab School Education Board each, although these states are the neighbouring states of the NCT of Delhi,” the report added.
Last updated on 09 Dec 2021
