New Delhi: The prestigious Delhi University is planning to lower the eligibility criteria for appearing in the Common Aptitude Test in English (CATE) for admission to BA (honors) from this academic session. Hence, it can be considered as a great relief for students who want to study English literature at the Varsity.

Though the schedule for the test is still being worked out, officials at the English department said that the eligibility criteria for CATE is likely to demand 45% aggregate instead of 60%. Earlier, only students who had secured at least 60% marks in English were allowed to register for CATE, the University may also do away with this condition as well.

Tapan Basu, Associate Professor, English Department said that they are likely to lower the aggregate needed for CATE to 45%, which is the general norm for all BA (honors) courses in DU. This will also make the process more inclusive, he added.

He also said that the students' aptitude for studying the course can be judged through the test and so they are planning to remove the criterion requiring minimum marks in English.

A meeting was held between the department of English and the representatives of different colleges to decide the modalities of CATE this year. Twenty colleges have so far confirmed about their participation, which includes Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Kamla Nehru College, Janki Devi Mahavidayalaya, Bharti College and Delhi College of Arts &Commerce. Other than these colleges, the department also expects more to join in over the next few days.

Basu further added that the CATE is likely to be held after the declaration of the class XII results.