The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Pre-university colleges may be forced to admit students who have scored low marks

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Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Pre-university colleges may be forced to admit students who have scored low marks

Special Correspondent

Six-member committee formed to frame policy on admissions to nursery schools too

Many colleges do not admit students with less than 90 p.c. marks
They may be forced to change their ways from the next academic year

Bangalore: Private pre-university colleges, which do not admit students scoring less than 90 per cent marks in the 10th standard examination, may have to change their ways from the next academic year.

A six-member committee constituted by the Government to frame comprehensive admission policy guidelines for private schools and pre-university colleges within the next two months, is considering a proposal made by a legislature committee in 2003-04 to curtail the trend of private colleges shunning low-scoring students.

Quota system

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S. Horatti, who headed the legislature committee, has recommended that these suggestions be seen as a model. The 23-member committee had said that private colleges should follow a quota system in admissions and not prefer only high-scoring students. For example, it said that at least 15 per cent of seats in pre-university courses should be reserved for those who score below 50 per cent. Another 30 per cent, it said, should be reserved for those who score between 50 and 65 per cent in the 10th standard examination.

Proposals forwarded

“The recommendations were never implemented,” said the Minister. He has also forwarded this proposal to the Pre-University Board to consider its “practical implications”.

The newly formed six-member committee, led by the Commissioner of Public Instruction, will also be framing rules on the contentious issue of admission to nursery schools.

Delhi model

The model for this will be the “Delhi model of admission” framed by a committee headed by CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly. It had recommended admission based on a 100-point formula that took into account several criteria such as distance from the child’s home to school, educational status of the parents and socio-economic background.

It had also set guidelines on time for admissions and transparency of the process. It had strictly banned interviews of parents and children before admission.

Uniform norms

Education Department officials say that uniform norms are necessary to ensure that “stratification of society does not get reflected in the education system where children from one class do not get an opportunity to mingle with those from other classes”.

Bad trend

Perceiving this as a bad trend, the committee has been given the task of addressing this “social problem”, which is particularly severe in urban areas.

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