A new session in Delhi University kicks off with smiles
Thousands of excited teenagers arrived at Vishwavidyalaya Metro station for their first day at Delhi University North Campus. DU confirmed over 68,500 admissions.
The Vishwavidyalaya Metro station was buzzing with excitement. Thousands of teenagers were here for the first time in their life, exiting a station that acts as an informal gatekeeper to the Delhi University North Campus, as they navigated their way through the crowds, eager for the first day of their college life to begin.
DU welcomed a fresh batch of first-year undergraduate students on Thursday, with the admission of more than 68,500 applicants confirmed after the university released its second merit list on August 25. Nearly all colleges organised orientation programmes to welcome the freshers, and even the morning showers failed to put a dampener on proceedings.
Dressed in a light pink chikankari salwar suit and heavy jhumkas, Rashmi Taneja, 18, made her way from the Metro station to Hindu College — the institute of her dreams, she called it.
“I could not sleep last night. I kept thinking about the friends I am going to make, the societies I am going to join, the food I am going to explore,” said Taneja, as she stepped into the college for the first time.
Some colleges staggered the orientation programme, breaking it up into different time slots to accommodate the huge cohort of students and parents. No college held classes, barring Kirori Mal College, which held their college orientation on Wednesday.
Hansraj held a havan ceremony to mark the start of a new academic year. Several early morning sports activities, performances by the college music society and an anti-ragging rally led by the NCC and anti-ragging committee were arranged by the college.
Other colleges such as Shri Ram College of Commerce and Ramjas distributed lunch for students and parents after the orientation programme.
Some colleges have already begun the process of introducing students to electives and extracurricular societies.
For example, Aurobindo College officials shared Google forms to its students for them to choose ECA societies. “We encourage each student to join at least two or three societies during their college life,” said principal Vipin Aggarwal.
Diganshi Singh, a fresher at Ramjas, said that she is very eager to join the dance committee. “There was a performance by seniors during the orientation and it was so beautiful. I have always loved dancing,” she said.
Amidst the bedlam of the first day at DU, as chatter of introductions filled up college halls, students started herding into groups, eager to find a group of friends to start their new journey with.
Sanskriti Bisht, from Uttarakhand, said she is enjoying the “North Campus vibes”.
“We are really looking forward to fests and visiting Majnu ka Tila,” Bisht said, pointing to her “new partner-in-crime”, Muskan (goes by one name), from Chandigarh. Both students, who got admission at Hansraj, said that DU “was always the plan”.
Thursday was also DU’s deadline for colleges to verify and confirm the admission of students who have been allocated seats through the second merit list. DU has made extra allocations in all colleges, to compress the time required for admissions to be completed.
Some teachers and principals expressed concern over the extra allocations and said if the extra students do not get accommodated, it might lead to confusion.
However, the admission process is not over yet — DU will declare the dates for a third round of seat allocation on a yet-to-be-decided date, and officials said any pending admission along with candidates in supernumerary quotas of CW or armed forces, ECA (extracurricular activities), sports and ward, will be allocated seats.