DU’s job fair guidelines stir row over ‘routine exclusion’ of Open Learning students 

Delhi University job fair guidelines excluding School of Open Learning students spark protests over equity and access to opportunities.

Guidelines at a Delhi University (DU) job fair that excluded students of the School of Open Learning (SOL) have triggered protests, with affected students demonstrating during the event held on campus on Friday (March 20, 2026).

The controversy arose after official guidelines for the job fair specified that “only regular students are eligible”, barring the students of SOL from taking part in the placements. This led to a protest by student groups, including Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan. The protesting students highlighted that the poster of the job fair specifies that “only regular students are eligible”. Further, guidelines shared by DU colleges stated that “SOL students cannot apply for jobs”.

The protesters argue that students of SOL are usually from marginalised communities and deserve the same opportunities. There are currently around 4 lakh SOL students, according to officials. Following the on-campus agitation, the students were assured that the university would “make arrangements” for the next job fair. In a video, Dean of Students’ Welfare Ranjan Kumar Tripathi can be heard saying that while SOL has many students, the university will work on a plan to include them in the future.

“We are also not allowed into DU’s library and are told that it is not for us, as we have our own. But in our library, we do not get books as there are usually many people waiting in line for the same books,” said 21-year-old Aditya Rawat, a third-year student of Political Science.

An administrative official at SOL, without wanting to be named, said that School of Open Learning too has its own placement cell.

However, the students are correct in wanting to be included in the university’s drives. Students argued that other constituent colleges, too, have their own libraries and placement drives, but are not excluded from DU’s central schemes and facilities for this reason.