Some government and government-aided colleges affiliated with Calcutta University want the university to hold the first-semester examinations towards the end of January or early February next year.
They think this will give the colleges adequate time to complete the syllabus.
The heads of the colleges said they wanted the examination calendar to be “pushed back a bit” because of the lengthy centralised admission system, now underway.
Usually, the examinations start in early or mid-January.
The principals said they were more worried about preparing the students who will be admitted after the second phase of admission (the mop-up round), likely to be completed in the first week of September.
Siuli Sarkar, the principal of Lady Brabourne College, said they were concerned about preparing the students who will take admission after the first week of September.
“Colleges will close for the Puja vacation in the first week of October. After Puja, there will be the winter vacation. How can the syllabus be completed if we don’t get enough class hours? Therefore, we would want CU to schedule the first-semester examination towards the end of January or early February,” said Sarkar.
Classes of those admitted in the first phase will start on August 7, according to the
admission schedule published by the higher education department.
“The students who will attend classes from August will have more time to prepare.
But we have to think of those who enrol in September.
We have to prepare them as well for the examination,” Sarkar told Metro.
The higher education department has launched the centralised admission system this year. It will have two phases and each phase will have two rounds.
Until last year, colleges enrolled students through their portals.
Last year, first-semester classes started on August 1.
Manas Kabi, the principal of Asutosh College, said they were expecting an extended season of admissions because the department said colleges could be allowed to fill seats on their own after the completion of the second phase in case seats remain vacant.
Asked what if seats remain vacant even after phase II, education secretary Manish Jain said: “We will then think of leaving it to the colleges to fill the seats on their own.”
Asutosh College principal said: “Considering the extended round of admissions, it would be appropriate if the first-semester examinations are held a bit late. The four-year undergraduate programme, launched last year in compliance with the NEP (National Education Policy), is exhaustive. If a student enrolling later cannot be prepared, he or she will struggle to write the examination.”
The principal of a government-aided college in south Calcutta said as the admission process of Jadavpur University and Presidency University, who have been kept outside the ambit of the portal, will be held on alongside, this creates the possibility of many seats remaining vacant after the phase-1.
Apart from JU and Presidency, minority and autonomous colleges have been kept outside the purview of the centralised portal.
“There are chances that once Presidency and JU start publishing their merit lists some of the students who had taken admission in our colleges during phase I will switch to these universities,” the principal said.
Presidency University will hold admission tests on July 6 and 7.
JU, which has admission tests, usually comes up with multiple merit lists till the end of August.
