The higher education department has deferred the last date for submission of applications for admission to undergraduate courses from August 20 to 27.

Many applicants are still awaiting the higher secondary review results and are not willing to apply till they get the updated marks. So, the deadline had to be extended, said an official of the department.

Many students applied for a review of marks after it became known that the number of top scorers in this year’s school-leaving exams had fallen compared with last year.

The need for a review, in the hope that marks will increase, became all the more crucial after the state government announced that colleges and universities could not conduct admission tests because of Covid-19 and would have to screen students for admission to undergraduate courses based on marks.

Colleges and universities started accepting applications on August 2.

A notice uploaded on Calcutta University’s website reads: “Considering various representations received requesting extension of the last date of application, on the online portal for admission to UG courses (2021-22) and the interest of the students, the competent authority of the state government… has decided, to extend the last date of application up to 27th August.”

The state council of higher secondary education published review results in four phases till August 11.

Several more phases are awaited.

Council president Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya said: “We hope the remaining review results will be published in the next few days.”

“Since all review results have not been published by Friday, the state government thought it prudent to extend the deadline by a week to enable more aspirants to apply,” said Joydeep Sarangi, the principal of New Alipore College.

Another principal said an assessment of this year’s HS results would justify such huge numbers of review applications.

The HS results, published on July 22, showed a significant rise in the pass percentage, along with a sharp drop in the number of top graders.

The number of candidates with the O grade — between 90 and 100 marks — came down from 30,220 in 2020 to 9,013.

The number of A+ grade (between 80 and 89) recipients dropped to 49,370 from 84,746 last year. The number of A graders (70-79) came down from 96,825 last year to 95,758.

“This is in contrast to the CBSE Class XII and ISC results, which saw a jump in the number of top scorers. Realising that they will lag behind in the competition for undergraduate seats, state board students applied for a review of marks,” the principal said.

Jadavpur University and Presidency University this year sought to admit students on the basis of an admission test but were denied permission on grounds of the pandemic and digital divide.

Teachers of JU had said in an email to the education minister Bratya Basu on July 20 that in a year when plus-II students could not write their school-leaving exams because of the pandemic, assessment through an admission test “is vital for determining whether or not a candidate ought to take a particular field of study at the higher levels”.