• The Lady Brabourne College principal is clueless about how the syllabus of the undergraduate four-year courses would be covered in time if the admissions are not started immediately
• The Asutosh College principal fears the inordinate delay in the start of the undergraduate admission process could force aspirants to seek admission in expensive private universities

The admission process in government and government-aided colleges has not yet begun in the absence of clarity on whether a centralised online system will be rolled out or the colleges will admit students on their own, as they have been doing every year.

Several college principals said the higher education department has been holding meetings to prepare for the launch of the portal for the centralised admission system, but no dates have been decided yet.

More than a month has passed since the publication of the Plus-II board results.

What has left the principals more concerned is that the autonomous colleges, minority institutions and unitary universities such as Jadavpur University, which are not within the purview of the portal, have almost completed their screening the applications. Classes there will start in a few weeks.

Siuli Sarkar, the principal of Lady Brabourne College, told The Telegraph: “If the admission process is not started immediately, we don’t know how the syllabus of the four-year undergraduate course would be covered in time. The education department will roll out the centralised online admission system. As told by the department, we had supplied all the required information last month. But we don’t know when the portal will be launched and we will be able to start classes.”

Manas Kabi, the principal of Asutosh College, is worried that the institution may not get enough students because of the delay.

“It has been an inordinate delay. I wonder whether the undergraduate aspirants will wait so long. They would enrol in private colleges or universities because the government-aided colleges are yet to start the admission process. In that case, public-funded institutions like ours will have seats vacant,” said Kabi.

This newspaper reported on several occasions that the department has been pushing back the rollout of the centralised portal since 2022.

In the existing system, a candidate seeking to pursue an undergraduate course has to log into the websites of colleges separately and apply. In the proposed system, an aspirant can apply to multiple colleges by logging into a single portal.

The system is also aimed at eliminating the intervention of students’ unions in the admission process.

Calls and text messages from this newspaper to education minister Bratya Basu and education secretary Manish Jain were not answered till late on Thursday.

The principal of Lady Brabourne College explained why it is important to start classes at the earliest.

According to her, added time helps address the difference in the academic competence of two students in the same class with almost similar marks.

“Since we don’t have the option of screening students through an admission test, we have to rely on board marks. In that case, if we can start classes early, we can address the lacunae among the students through a rigorous session of classes,” said Sarkar.

The three colleges under Ramakrishna Mission, Jadavpur University and Presidency University admit students based on tests. Private colleges and autonomous institutions use a combination of marks and tests.

Purna Chandra Maity, the president of the All Bengal Principals’ Council, said: “While it is understandable that the department will have a series of meetings with the principals about the launch of the portal, a decision has to be taken at the earliest. Last year, after the department had given up on its plan to roll out the portal, the colleges were allowed to admit students independently. But because of the delay in admission, many seats were vacant.”