Centralised admission portal: Colleges boycott PU exams

LUDHIANA: The aided and unaided colleges of the district are observing a shutdown and boycotting the Panjab University (PU) exams in protest against the central admission portal.
Amid heavy rain, staff of Khalsa College for Women; AS College, Khanna; Guru Teg Bahadur National College, Dhaka; Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College; Shree Atam Vallabh Jain College; and Arya College, protested outside their respective institutions on Wednesday.
The joint action committee (JAC) of teachers — comprising Aided, Unaided College Management Federation, Principals’ Association, and Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU) — boycotted the exams.
PCCTU district president Chamkaur Singh said, “Ever since the call for the closure of colleges, there has been no communication from authorities to resolve the issue.”
The college authorities claim that the portal is not viable as they would not be able to follow up with admission seekers. They said the colleges will not be able to offer financial assistance to students such as the option to pay the fee in instalments. They said they will boycott the exams till June 2 and continue to protest.
Sunder Singh, PCCTU district secretary, said, “There is already a shortage of students in colleges and the number will decrease if admissions are held through online portal. These government policies are designed to promote private players.”
Exams to now be held in govt colleges, schools
The PU will now conduct the exams from June 1 onwards in government colleges and schools, instead of the private colleges.
Chamkaur Singh said, “The government school principals are unaware of the examination system of the colleges, how will they conduct the same?”
The college authorities received information regarding the change of centres post 8 pm on Wednesday and started calling the students immediately to update them.
One of them said, “The exams are scheduled for 9:30am and 2pm for tomorrow. We are informing the students about the new centres. They are panicking due to the last-minute change."
The centres listed on the PU website and those shared by the government school and college authorities, who are to conduct the exam now, are different. This has led to further confusion among the students.