Several students of Delhi University’s (DU) School of Open Learning (SOL) have flagged an error on the university portal where their nationality is shown as ‘Nepal’ despite having declared themselves as ‘Indian’ in their admission forms.

A few students, however, said when they logged in on Monday evening, their nationality had been changed to ‘Indian’ on the portal, but many more students are likely to be affected.

SOL is a distance-learning institute under the aegis of DU’s Campus of Open Learning.

Vivek Kumar, a student whose nationality was shown as ‘Nepal’ on the portal, said, “In my forms, I have always written ‘Indian’. I am originally from Bihar and have been brought up in Delhi. We have classes on weekends. On Saturday, I was checking the portal to see my subjects and study material when I realised that my nationality was incorrect.”

Mr. Kumar said when he went to class, almost every other student found ‘Nepal’ reflected on their profiles.

Another student, Pranjal Kumar Rai, said, “When I went to class on Sunday, some students pointed it out. When I checked my profile, my nationality was shown as ‘Nepal’. Soon, we realised that the entire class was facing this issue. We asked our teachers and they said there were some issues with the portal.”

He added, “On Monday evening, I logged in and found that it had been changed back to ‘Indian’.”

The students said they were worried about the error affecting them in future and hoped it would be resolved soon.

“I am afraid it will be a problem in the future, so I hope it gets fixed soon,” Mr. Kumar said.

His nationality had also been changed back to ‘Indian’ on the portal.

SOL Director Payal Mago said she is yet to receive a complaint from students on the issue.

Earlier in the day, student organisation Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) submitted a memorandum to DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh seeking rectification of the error and stating that nationality is a “sensitive and fundamental identity detail”.

In its memorandum, the KYS described the issue as “more than a minor technical discrepancy”. “Students should not be subjected to harassment, repeated verification or adverse consequences because of this administrative error,” it stated.

The KYS also urged the university to conduct an inquiry to determine how the error occurred, fix responsibility for the lapse, and take action against those responsible for it.