Education, Careers & Professional News
DU Hostels Choked !
It is an acknowledged fact that getting a hostel accommodation in Delhi University (DU) is a privilege.
Thousands dream but few get it. More precisely, 900 is the total number of undergraduate hostel seats available in DU.
So, when lakhs of students from across the country make the annual pilgrimage to DU, there is little light at the end of the tunnel for them.
Only 11 colleges in the university offer a hostel accommodation, out of which, only three are womens colleges. And, the competition for these seats is cut-throat.
Said Kavita Sharma, principal, Hindu College: In the first year, only 70 seats are available, for which we get 600 applications. So only the best students in a course get the hostel seats.
Its the same story in other colleges as well. For instance, last year in Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), 20,000 applications were received for 100 seats while at Hansraj, the student-seat ratio was 20:1.
Since we have to be fair to all courses, a programme with 140 students has only seven seats allotted to them. This necessarily means that a bulk of our students opt for private accommodations, said S Arora, principal, Hansraj College.
According to college authorities, between 40-60% of the students are outstation candidates. Aruna Sitesh, principal of IP College said, Ive seen parents crying in my office because their wards couldnt get a hostel seat and private accommodation wasnt a viable option due to economic reasons. The only thing left for them is going back home.
Recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) introduced a scheme whereby educational institutions would be given grants for building womens hostels. However, colleges claim the grant amount is insufficient. The budget for building a 100-seater hostel is Rs 1 crore, exclusive of land prices. The UGC will fund Rs 25 lakh, while the rest is to be funded by the college. Where will I get those kind of funds? said an agitated Kavita Sharma.
Unlike institutions like the IITs and IIMs, DU gets little funding from its alumni. Sharma added: The alumni would get involved when its a win-win for both. Since I cant assure them of relaxation in admission or a quota for their wards, theres little motivation to give back to the college.
With funds at a premium, most students are forced to live as paying guests or take accommodation on rent, sometimes at places as far as Rohini and Ashok Vihar, located 30 minutes away from the university.
Mukul Yadav, who has been looking for a place to stay since he arrived last week from Patna, complained: With so many students coming from outstation, the university should increase the number of hostels here. For the past week, Ive been searching for a room in Mukherjee Nagar and Chandrawali but it is so expensive! I heard that students stay at Timarpur as well, so Ill check there.