Evening College tag a stigma

11 Evening Colleges were sanctioned by the UGC to the Delhi University in the 1970's. These colleges basically catered to students who wished to pursue further studies but were simultaneously working in the morning. Now most of these colleges strictly disallow students who are working and classes begin by two 'o' clock, hence the prefix 'evening' continues to be an issue for debate. As Principal of Dyal Singh Evening, Deepak Malhotra puts it, "The term 'evening' College is a misnomer. 'Second-shift' or even 'Afternoon' college is a better alternative."

Evening colleges offer the advantage of doing add-on courses, vocational courses and/or language courses in the morning and attending classes later in the day, besides the assurance that you will be up in time to attend the first class. Colleges like Dyal Singh Evening and Zakir Husain Evening are doing considerably better than their morning counter-parts in terms of their score in university exams and excellence in ECAs. As far as Dyal Singh Evening is concerned, the Evening College came before the morning one. But despite their success students continue to opt for Morning colleges over them.

Sushant Sharma, Secretary of PRO Wing of Art and Culture Association of Dyal Singh Evening provided insight into the situation. "When we counsel freshers to take admission into the Evening College rather than the Morning one, they express their apprehension. For most, it is still their last resort since they couldn't clear the comparatively higher cut-offs at the Morning colleges. When our theatre team has gone to perform at various fests, we've been greeted with snide comments. At various occasions we've felt discriminated against by the jury too in terms of the prizes going to less deserving teams thanks to the Evening College tag." Re-structuring the B.A. Pass course and calling it B.A. Programme worked wonders for its acceptance amongst students. Who knows, renaming 'Evening' College might just remove the stigma attached to it!

Dr. Satender Kumar, Principal Satyawati Evening lists the problems faced by an Evening College. "For girl students, Evening Colleges aren't their first choice due to the timings. Teachers have to stay back till even later than the students and this obviously breeds discontent amongst the staff. Other than that, Morning College students have to vacate the college premises for the Evening College by 4. Students involved in extra-curricular activities and sports wish to use the auditorium/common rooms and grounds, respectively, for practices. These stay-backs tend to spill over the prescribed time which remains a bone of contention between the two unions."

Before the Co-ordination Committee came into place, there were other issues too, such as fights for the better courses, the Morning College principal governing both the colleges and the Evening College Principal acting as a subordinate, etc. which are now more or less resolved. The Morning and Evening College now function as distinct entities with separate administration, separate offices, separate staff, separate libraries and in some cases with separate auditoriums in the same building. Suggestions such as the Morning classes being started early and additional floors being added to the building have regularly featured in discussions.

After Khalsa's Evening College moved in with the Morning College as Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, the number of Evening colleges stands stationary at 10. Mail Today asked the principals of infra-structurally superior colleges why a second-shift isn't run at their institutions. To that Hansraj College's principal said, "Our College offers science courses which means students need to use labs till much after classes get over. For an afternoon shift, classes have to start by 2 which wouldn't be possible. The professors who teach in the morning won't teach in the evening which would mean new appointments and compromised standards." Dr. Pratibha Jolly, Principal Miranda House quotes the quality over quantity maxim. "Education isn't just about class-room teaching. We offer holistic education to our girls and we're barely keeping our head above the water with the number of activities we've introduced."