VC told Indian Express He expects the model to be restored before PhD admissions begin next month or in September. “I have asked for admission data for the last five years. We will soon constitute a committee which will analyze the data and submit the report within two weeks. After that we will take the matter to the statutory bodies and pass it.”
What is the Deprivation Points Model?
The idea is to give a leg up in admissions to marginalized candidates – candidates coming from backward areas, women and transgender students. The deprivation marks awarded range from 20 in the early days of JNU to 12 in the recent past.
The model divides each state’s backward districts into “quartile 1” and “quartile 2” areas, using census data based on three parameters: “literate as a percentage of the total population”, “non-literate” and “non-literate” as a percentage of the total population. -total (main + marginal) workers as a percentage of agricultural workers (main and marginal), and “agricultural productivity per hectare”. Marks are awarded on the basis of quartile belonging to an applicant.
Additionally, marks are awarded to women and transgender candidates, depending on whether they belong to an urban or rural area.
In the early 1970s, under the leadership of Prakash Karat, now a senior leader of the CPI(M), the JNU Students’ Union fought for an admissions policy that suited students from backward regions, castes and classes. It was given statutory approval by the Academic Council (AC) in 1974.
From 1984 to 1994, the deprivation model was dropped – but reinstated under pressure from the student union.
When and why was the deprivation point model discontinued?
JNU continues to follow the deprived marks model for admission to postgraduate and undergraduate courses. For research seats – MPhil and PhD degrees – however, the system was discontinued in 2017.
This change was a result of JNU’s decision to adopt the 2016 UGC guidelines for admissions. The deprivation model was not mentioned in the guidelines, and recommended 100 per cent weightage to the marks of the oral examination, making the entrance examination a purely qualifying examination for admission to MPhil and Ph.
The students’ union agitated to retain the most unique feature of JNU’s admission policy, but the matter went to the Delhi High Court, which said that the UGC guidelines should be followed “without any deviation”.
What was the impact of the deprivation score model?
Students and teachers have argued over the years that the model has made JNU uniquely inclusive, admitting many more first-generation learners each year than other universities. In JNU also, the reserved category students were more than the prescribed seats.
VC Pandit told The Indian Express, “I myself am a product of JNU’s admission policy. I have benefited from the underprivileged model, being a woman and a backward place in Tamil Nadu. So I think it’s very important that we keep that up.”
And what was the effect of removing it in research admissions?
Data compiled by the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) shows that there has been a decline in the enrollment of students from reserved categories, women and some areas of the country after the removal of disadvantaged sections.
According to JNUTA, prior to 2017, JNU had an average admission of around 900 students through its integrated MPhil/PhD programme, “but this figure has now fallen to 716 for 2022-23, a decline of more than 20%.” represents”.
JNUTA has also reported that the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka together accounted for 6-8 per cent of research admissions in 2014-16, which went up to 2.4 per cent in 2017 and 2.9 per cent in 2017. 2019 “The share of Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram has come down from about 5.3% to just 2.3% in the same period,” says JNUTA.
Furthermore, according to JNUTA, “nearly 1 in 4 reserved seats are not enrolled for admission to JNU’s research programme”, and women’s enrollment has fallen from 51.5 per cent in 2015-16 to 41.2 per cent in 2019-20 .