BA Pass course is back in Jamia after a year gap

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BA Pass course that was dropped last year is back from this academic year 2011-2012, according to a senior Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) official. A few months after becoming Vice-Chancellor of JMI, Najeeb Jung had made some changes by scrapping courses like BA, BBFA (self-finance). The removal of the course had generated heated debate among teachers in the University. Since then VC has been under pressure to bring it back. After some upgradation, the course is going to be introduced now.

Every year some 250 students used to take admission in the course. Most of them come from poor backgrounds and are educationally and financially weak. Students who don’t get admission in BA (Honours) used to get admission in BA Pass. The minimum requirement for getting admission in BA Pass at that time was 45 per cent whereas in other courses the minimum eligibility is 50 per cent. There used to be a huge rush of students in this course with some 1,500 candidates appeared for the entrance test a year before it was scrapped. It appears that this year the course has been launched by making the content more up to date so that pass outs could get more out of the course.

The university authorities’ fight to retain BA Pass goes back to 1992 when for the first time an attempt was made to scrap it. However, it survived then. The issue of scrapping the course was again raised in 2001. Then teachers had vehemently opposed it and then Vice-Chancellor Syed Shahid Mahdi (2000 - 2004) was forced to back down.

Nayyar Iqbal, who studied BA Pass at JMI and now works as a quality controller in an MNC publishing house, is happy with the development. "The vice-chancellor has done the righ thing. I have learned that some value addition has been done to the course." He pointed out that a large number of students are girls from Jama Masjid area. Thus scrapping this course means denying them the opportunity to study further.  Besides, these girls had a better chance to qualify for BEd because four subjects are taught at this level whereas BA Honour students specialize in only one subject.