Prestigious colleges close admission

Several prestigious colleges affiliated to the Gujarat University closed down the admission procedure on its very first day, Monday, even as several meritorious students were left wandering for want of admission. Due to the first-cum-first admission procedure adopted by the university, several deserving students had to return empty-handed and could not help but shed tears.

Since the GU had specified the criteria for admission on first-cum-first basis rather than merit, various colleges had witnessed chaos and tension since Sunday evening.

Stretch of roads outside the colleges, like the road opposite Natraj Cinema on Ashram Road, the Vidyapeeth road near the C.U. Shah Commerce College, near the HL College of Commerce, Navrangpura, near the St Xavier’s College, among others, had to be closed down for traffic with the admission process continued till 12 noon.

Eager parents and students queued up outside the premises of colleges like the H.L. College of Commerce where as many as 5,000 people gathered at one point of time. Around 7,000 forms were sold when the admissions began at 7 am and the college declared the admission closed by 12 noon.

Similarly at the St. Xavier’s College, between 7 am and 8.30 am, around 450 forms had been sold and by 2 pm, 1,900 forms were sold out. There were students like Sumeet Shah with 64 per cent, who was hopeful of securing seat for himself in H.L. College of Commerce on sports quota.

Acting vice-chancellor Chaitanya Khambholja informed that the admissions went off peacefully during the day. "While I received complaints from students with regard to the admission criteria that was on the first-cum-first basis, they are most likely to procure seats in other colleges. The rush is mostly for reputed colleges and it is not feasible for the colleges concerned to increase the student intake, the maximum being 130 students per division."

Several student leaders met Mr Khambholja during the day to brief him about the admission crisis.

Republished from The Asian Age