Summary
The state higher education department had in June last year announced that it would not be able to launch a centralised admission portal and asked the colleges to admit students through their individual websites
A platform of college principals has written to education minister Bratya Basu about the delay in starting undergraduate admissions in most colleges.
The All Bengal Principals’ Council has written in the letter: “All private (autonomous) colleges and government-aided minority colleges have opened their admission portals and they are going to complete their admission process for the 2024-25 session shortly. But we are far behind.”
The platform has said the colleges suffered last year because of a delayed start of the admission process.
“In the last academic session, the higher education department decided late to open the admission portal and, as a result, we are suffering till date from the scarcity of students, especially in the science and arts streams,” says the letter signed by Purna Chandra Maity, the president of the council.
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to minister Basu on Monday did not yield any response.
The state higher education department had in June last year announced that it would not be able to launch a centralised admission portal and asked the colleges to admit students through their individual websites.
More than 75 per cent of the seats were left vacant in some of the subjects after last year’s admission, the council has written.
In March 2024, the department announced that the colleges this year would admit students through the centralised online admission portal.
In the existing standalone mechanism, a candidate applying for an undergraduate course has to log into the websites or portals of individual institutions and apply.
In the proposed system, an aspirant can apply to multiple colleges by logging into a single portal.
However, the department has yet to make an announcement since then and there is no clarity on the launch of the portal.
Only autonomous colleges — such as the colleges under the Ramakrishna Mission and minority institutions like St Xavier’s College and Scottish Church College — have started the undergraduate admission process. The autonomous colleges and minority institutions are beyond the purview of the portal.
The platform has urged the higher education department to open the centralised admission portal immediately or allow the colleges to start the admission process through the standalone (decentralised) mechanism.
Metro reported on May 15 that many colleges were keeping their stand-alone portals ready for undergraduate admissions because there was no word from the government yet on the introduction of the centralised admission system from the 2024-25 academic year.
The results of all major plus-II board exams — CBSE, ISC and the Bengal HS — are out.
But apart from the handful of institutions outside the portal’s fold, colleges have not been able to start the admission process.
Asked when the centralised portal will be launched, education minister Basu told this newspaper last week: “Since the election process is on, I won’t comment on the issue (on the rollout of the centralised admission portal).”
The platform of college principals has written in the letter that the Model Code of Conduct, which kicked in with the announcement of the Lok Sabha election dates and will remain in force till the poll process is on, does not come in the way of rolling out the portal.
The council has written that “if the department fails to manage the centralised online portal, the department may give clearance to the individual colleges” to open their own admission portals.
Last updated on 21 May 2024
