After Delhi University’s Maths Department, yet another department was hit by systemic failing.
This time, the furore is being raised in the Physics Department. As per the results declared on March 7, about 94% of students in the varsity’s MSC Physics Programme have failed either in theory examinations or internals or both in the examinations conducted in December 2018.
Victimized by mass failure, the students compiled data from university’s result portal which shows that out of 279 first-year students in MSC Physics, 262 have failed.
It was also found that there has been widespread failing in one subject: Electromagnetics theory paper in which 101 students failed in theory and 258 failed in internal testing. Though, this is not the first time that the department has witnessed mass failures.
Overall failure rate is also high across colleges: 28 out of 30 students failed in Miranda House, 7 out of 7 from SGBT Khalsa, 48 out of 50 from Hindu College, 54 out of 54 from KMC, 55 out of 56 from Ramjas and 5 out of 7 from St. Stephen’s have failed.
Students blame the administration’s lackadaisical attitude for this crisis. They further allege that they are not aware of the basis on which they were failed. Neither are they informed about the breakup of marks.
Mainly blaming it on the lack of communication between the university and the professors, one of the students who failed in first-year exams said, “Students are bound to fail. What is taught in the classroom and what is asked in exams is worlds apart?. Our papers are much difficult than what teachers prepare us for.”
Professors have come out in the support of their students stating that they have secured a place in DU with extra high marks in qualifying examinations. It then comes as a surprise when such students become an utter failure within 4 months.
“There is a lack of an institutional mechanism that should have long addressed the mass failures,” said Sachin Nirmala Narayan, Professor, Dyal Singh College.
However, D S Kulshreshtha, the Head of Department does not agree with this view. According to him, the quality of students admitted is not good as there is no minimum cut-off marks for those taking admission through the entrance exam.
“Our intake capacity has increased over the last three years under OBC expansion. To fill up the increased seats, we have been admitting students who have scored even below 20 per cent in the entrance test. Students with a score as low as 10 marks out of 400 in entrance have been admitted,” he said.
~Preksha Mishra
