Admission meet ends without result

The meeting of the admission committee of Gujarat University to decide upon the admission procedures in wake of HSCE results concluded amid noisy debates. The meeting focused less on students’ admissions as the members sought answers to shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff, among other issues.

The meeting was also interrupted by NSUI representatives who wanted answers to the admission procedure in wake of the closure of admissions to science courses on Tuesday as more than 1,000 Higher Secondary Certificate Examination (science) students of Gujarat Secondary Education Board students have been left out.

It is important to note that the Gujarat University had closed gates to over 1,000 students, eager to get admission to the science colleges affiliated to the university on Tuesday. In wake of record pass-out percentage of HSCE (science) held by the GSEB students in 2000-01, and un-preparedness by the university to meet the overwhelming rush of science students, the problem finally cropped up on the second day of admission.

"We want to know that how is the univesrity going to act when several students who secured between 45-55 percentage in HSCE (Science) are left behind," fumed one of the NSUI representtatives. "Had the Gujarat University been careful enough to plan the admissions according to the HSCE (science) results, the problem would not have taken place at all," he added.

Among the 8,054 students who passed out in 2001, about 320 were given admission at the Maninagar Science College, 450 sought admission at the R.G. Shah Science College, 560 went to C.U. Shah Science College and Bhavan’s Science College admitted as many as 619 students, while others got seats in the remaining three colleges when the admissions procedurese were closed down on Tuesday.
Although admission to most of the colleges is over, the university has left some seats for the HSCE (science) candidates of Central Board of Secondary Education. Giving information, principal of MG Science Institute Chaitanya Dave informed that the college has made provision for accommodating about 15 CBSE students.

Referring to the voluminous flow of students to the science colleges for the academic session 2001-02, Mr. Dave remarked, "We did not face tough time giving admission to the students, whose numbers have gone up owing to high HSCE (science) results."

He felt that a significant number of colleges offering technical courses in medicine, engineering and pharmacy might begin functioning during the forthcoming months and thus provide respite to the existing colleges. However, strong resentment among a section of academicians, worried about the forthcoming academic session, could be felt on Tuesday.

"The government is giving out high results without making adequate arrangements for their further studies," said one of them. RG Shah Science College’s principal K.B. Soni agreed, "The rush of students to the science colleges is mind-boggling.

How could the government be so inconsiderate considering the fact that there are lot of vacancies in academic posts yet to be filled up when the number of students is increasing considerably with each academic session?" Due to the overburdening of workload on the remaining staff, academics suffer, he observes. "This is exactly what will hamper the careers of students even in coming years if the government does not initiate prompt action," feared another official concerned.

Republished from Asian Age