Delhi University is likely to have lower cutoffs this year, which is going to be a relief for a lot of people aiming to get into it, around the country. This is because this year, all the States and Union Territories have agreed to not inflate the marks.
People are familiar with some of the ridiculous cut offs that Delhi University has had in the past. They have been high enough to seem unbelievable and make headlines. This has been in part due to the spiking of marks done by various states.
Until this happened, there used to be a policy of ‘moderation’ in the State boards. This means that students got higher marks, spiked by the State, in subjects that were considered unusually difficult. This move was to make it so that there is a more even playing field but it did succeed in hiking the cutoffs for Delhi University.
The Central Government advised the states last year to not inflate their marks but some of the states did not follow the advice, stating that they were already halfway through their educational year and could not change it thus. The process undertaken by State governments although tried to make an even playing field among subjects was unfair to students not under state boards like CBSE and ICSE. Students had to make up for the spike to get into Delhi University.
Most states have agreed this year that they will not spike the marks but Tamil Nadu has said that they will provide grace marks, but only to those students who are borderline failing according to their marks. The entire marking policy that Tamil Nadu has chosen will be announced on the Tamil Nadu Board’s website.
This measure will ensure that students from all boards across India will be on a more even playing field, and will provide a better view of Delhi University cutoffs this year which are likely to be lower.