New Delhi, Apr 5, 2019: The staff at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi has requested the principal to hold a staff meeting to discuss the changes in the admission policy passed by the Governing Body (GB).

On March 14, the governing body decided to hold an aptitude test for undergraduate courses from this year and increase the merit differential percentage from 20 percent to 25 percent for those who come under church of North India (CNI) Church of North India-Delhi (CNI-D). The college has also decided to increase the admission fee.

The teachers claim that the decisions were taken without consulting them. The teachers association held a meeting on Wednesday about the same. According to one of the teacher’s, the decision for an aptitude test is purely an academic matter, but the general body took the decision without discussing it. In the past, departments had said that they couldn’t hold such tests, the teacher added.

In the year 2015, the then principal Valson Thampu introduced the aptitude test along with an interview for the admissions. While 15 marks were allotted for the interview the rest was calculated based on the class 12 marks of the candidates. Last year however, aptitude tests were not held for the Physics and Chemistry Honors program.

The teachers have decided to write to the current principal John Varghese who is also the chairperson of the staff council.

The teachers also raised their doubts over the hike in fees by 6-7 percent. “Other trust run colleges are not increasing the fees. We have decided to compare the fees and find out whether our funds are being used appropriately”, the teachers said. The amount collected through the college’s language courses also came up for discussion.

When asked about increasing the merit differential percentage, the teachers said they would examine the decision. “Though there are academic concerns we should examine if this is being done as they (college administration) are not being able to fill up the seats”, the teacher added.

St. Stephen’s College is ranked one of the top colleges in the country which is affiliated to the University of Delhi. The college offers undergraduate as well as postgraduate programs across the arts, science and commerce disciplines.

(jagranjosh.com)