A majority of outstation candidates who got admission to Delhi University (DU) colleges for academic session 2019-20 are tackling new challenges like food, accommodation and language barriers.
Around 68,000 students have taken admission to undergraduate courses of Delhi University colleges with more than 50 percent students from outside the National Capital, revealed a university official. The academic session for DU started on July 20.
Stating about the challenges faced, Muskan Jain, BA Political Science (Honours) student from Kirori Mal College, said that accommodation is among the problems as a good place to stay is very expensive in Delhi. Jain is travelling from Sonepat which takes two-and-a- half hours on her way to college.
“Rents for paying guests around Kamla Nagar and Shakti Nagar are too expensive and hostel facilitates are extremely limited. Most of the co-ed colleges don’t have a dedicated girls’ hostel,” she said.
Mayank Shekhar Pandey from Gorakhpur is pursuing BA Sanskrit (Hons) from Ramjas College has similar concern of exorbitant rents in the national Capital.
“I had a lot of problem in finding a decent place to live. It took me a month to find a flat as the rent is not reasonable. It takes me 30 to 40 minutes to reach my college. I don’t have many facilities and have to cook, do my laundry and also clean the house,” he said.
“When I was in Gorakhpur, I didn’t have any financial restrictions but since I am living on my own now, I am given a fixed pocket money from which I have to pay my rent, transportation expenses and manage daily expenses,” Pandey further said.
Edwin Kipchirchir Kiptoo is from Kenya and is a student MSc in Chemistry from Kirori Mal College. Besides accommodation issues, he also has to deal with the language barrier.
“Since there are limited accommodations, it is really tough. For now, I am living someplace twenty minutes away from college. However, I am going to opt for a hostel in college. The admission process is another problem as I am not familiar with the process,” Kiptoo said.
Ragashree Sengupta from Bengaluru, a student of BA English (Honours), is also struggling with the language barrier.
“Being from South India, the biggest problem is the language barrier as Hindi is not widely spoken in Bengaluru,” Sengupta said.
Some Northeastern students also complained about feeling alienated in the national capital.
“I can understand Hindi but can’t confidently communicate in it. I already feel alienated after being stared at in just three days of my arrival in the capital,” Delphini Sorokhaibam from Manipur said.
