Pune: CBSE, ISC students wait for additional quota

PUNE: A score of 92% in Std XII, and yet it has been no cakewalk for the student from a central education board. She has to wait for admission to the reputed college she applied to, and the salt on the wound is knowing that students with lesser scores have already got admission since their HSC results.
Colleges, especially those offering in-demand courses for graduation, are in a bind as the number of students from central education boards, who have applied is high, but they have yet to receive guidelines from Savitribai Phule Pune University regarding the additional 10% seats for such students.
"The university officials have orally stated that the colleges can admit CBSE/ICS students in a special round and 10% seats will be given extra. But there is no notification regarding it. Even when we applied for a 10% quota, we have not yet received it due to which we are apprehensive of the next step. Last year, they approved it after September 15. By then our academic year was well into the middle," the principal of a college said.
While colleges which had vacant seats were able to accommodate new students, courses like BA (English) in Fergusson College or a BBA (IB) in BMCC, are awaiting a decision from the university.
"My daughter has got 92%. In the general merit list, her number is close to 50. The admission round for state board students closed at 88% in the general category in the course she has applied to. We want an assurance that students who have received 88% in the central boards will be given admission," the mother of a CBSE student said.
An activist in the education field said this was the case with many colleges. "A student from the central board has scored 91% in Std XII but is unable to secure admission despite the fact that the college cut-off is 86% for the state board students. Colleges should have started the admission process after the central boards announced their results or if there was a clear notification from the SPPU about increasing the seats. We have submitted our demands to the university," Siddharth Dhende, former deputy mayor said.