Lakhs of students are stranded after Delhi University put its admissions process on hold amid a massive controversy over a Four-Year Undergraduate Programme or FYUP introduced last year. The University Grants Commission (UGC), the central college funding agency, wants it scrapped but the university is yet to fall in line.
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The principals of 36 colleges held a meeting on Monday and decided to hold admissions till the dispute until they receive "unambiguous guidelines from a competent authority."
Admissions to the Delhi University were to start today, but colleges have held their cut-off list that informs students of the marks needed for each course.
The UGC has ordered colleges to stop admitting students under the four-year programme, which was introduced despite strong opposition from teachers and student bodies.
Reports suggest many of these colleges have said they are willing to end the four-year system and revert to the old three-year pattern.
The university's Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, however, is yet to respond to the directive to end the four-year system. Sources say Mr Singh's defiance may provoke the UGC to take legal action to remove him.
The government has refused to intervene and wants the UGC and Delhi University to settle the dispute. "I am not at liberty to speak," Education Minister Smriti Irani today said.
More protests have been organised today by students and teachers who want the four-year course to go. A section of Delhi University teachers who favour the system are also sitting on a hunger strike.
A majority of teachers and students say the infrastructure for Delhi University, already stretched thin, needs to be reformed for the FYUP, which makes it compulsory for students to study 11 foundation courses in their first two years at college.
Critics called Delhi University's move to introduce it last year ill-timed and not properly planned. They say the current schooling system in India (the 10+2 scheme) allows students to enter college primed to choose a specific subject or discipline.
The UGC has appointed a 10-member committee to oversee the migration of some 60,000 students who started in the four-year programme last year to the three-year format.
