The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Admissions to mgmt seats in pvt BEd colleges
Merit to be criteria
Gayatri Rajwade
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 10
Admissions to ‘overpriced’ and ‘reserved’ seats at private colleges offering BEd will now come under the ambit of the joint counselling committee.

While the management quota has been allowed by the Supreme Court, it has been clearly stated that all admissions, including those to management quota seats, will be made only on the basis of a common entrance test and a single-window admission mode. Therefore, private colleges affiliated to Panjab University are required to adhere to these guidelines and complete the admission process through merit.

This would mean that after regular counselling is done, the colleges must advertise the number of management quota seats along with the criteria under which the students will be admitted.

The applications will be received by the joint counselling committee, which would then prepare a merit list from the names of students falling in the category.

The state government has also laid down a fee structure for admissions under the management quota. The university will ensure that the same is followed.

While the self-financed colleges has led to greater investment in the education sector, it has also led to several alleged discrepancies in the admission procedure, especially for management quota seats.

While the joint counselling committee had stated that the colleges would fill up the management quota seats only after regular counselling ended and the state had fixed the fee structure, these rules are being defied.

The Supreme Court had also ruled that seats falling vacant due to students not joining or moving to other colleges could be filled by the management, if candidates are not available from the merit list of the test conducted by the university. Also, before allowing colleges to fill these seats, the university is to give a cut-off date in case candidates are not available from the merit list.

In spite of these procedures laid down, private colleges do not even inform the university about vacancies, filling these seats at their whims.

What is more, these seats are also being used as ‘money-spinners’ and the maximum seats are deliberately kept under this quota to make the most of them. The issue is likely to be taken up at the forthcoming senate meeting.

Security on PU campus to be stepped up
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 10
In the wake of brawls and clashes between members of various students’ bodies, the university authorities have decided to step up security on the campus. In a decision taken by the board of finance, the university will have 100 security guards and three supervisors, who will be responsible for maintaining decorum on the campus from the next week.

The proposal, involving 100 guards, three supervisors, a jeep for patrolling and communication systems (10 walkie-talkies) at a cost of Rs 6.20 lakh per month, was approved at the meeting of the board of finance held on July 4.

According to vice-chancellor R.C. Sobti, “There was a need to strengthen security as discipline needs to be maintained. Thefts, unwanted elements, proper checking of intruders and even ragging will be curtailed by this move.”

It may be recalled that just last month, activists of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) and the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) clashed with each other following which a student was admitted to the PGI with serious injuries. The police had registered a case in this regard.

The decision has been taken in the wake of several incidents outside the law department, at Students Centre and fights and scuffles at the boys’ hostel earlier. According to sources, of the final four tenders shortlisted, those, responsible for security at the PGI, have been selected.

Not many takers for BSc
Smriti Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 10
Decreasing number of students opting for BSc (medical and non-medical streams) has become a cause of concern for the teaching fraternity. Contrary to a few years ago, when these courses were one of the most sought-after courses, students, now, from the past two three years prefer to go in for other professional and job-oriented courses. Perhaps, this explains the reason for the vacant seats lying in various colleges across the city.

At Government College for Girls, Sector 42, there are still 60 seats lying vacant both in the BSc medical and non-medical streams. Principal of the college Inderjit Kaur says, “Primarily, the BPO industry is responsible for it. The students prefer taking up a job available at hand over a regular course. Most of them do graduation through correspondence and it directly affects the basic courses like BA and BSc.”

The situation at MCM DAV College, Sector 36, is no different. Till now, only about 20-30 per cent of the total seats have been filled up in BSc medical and non-medical. Dr Puneet Bedi, principal of the college, opines that students follow trends even in choosing their streams. “Since past two to three years, the inclination is towards commerce and computers.”

Promila Kaushal, principal of Government College for Girls (GCG), Sector 11, corroborates her viewpoint. At GCG-11, out of the 300 seats available in BSc (med), about 200 have been filled till now and in non-medical, about 80 have been filled out of 100 seats. “These streams, along with the arts stream, are seeing a downward trend,” she stated.

According to the principal of GGDSD College, Sector 32, primarily, the glut of options that are available for medical and non-medical students is the reason.

Class XI Admissions
Day VI: 1,170 enrolled
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 10
As many as 1,170 students were enrolled in Class XI (science, arts and vocational streams) of various city schools on the sixth day of counselling today. The centralised admissions are being held at GMSSS-23.

All arts seats at five city schools — GMSSSs-19, 21, 35, 40 and 46 — were filled today. The cut-offs at these schools were 48.6 per cent, 47.6 per cent, 50 per cent, 47 per cent and 47.2 per cent, respectively.

All arts seats at GMSSS-16 were filled yesterday. However, in the science stream, few seats at GGSSS-18 are still vacant. In the vocational stream, all AC refrigeration seats have been filled at GMSSSs-27 and 23 and the cut-offs were 49.8 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively.

Similarly, electrical seats at GSSS-45, financial marketing management seats at GMSSS-19, LIC seats at GMSSS-35, OT seats at GMSSS-32, stenography seats at GMSSS-18 and tourism and travel vocational seats at GMSSS-10, have been filled today. The cut-offs for these were 50.6 per cent, 55.8 per cent, 48.4 per cent, 52.2 per cent, 51.6 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.

According to J.S. Basota, the spokesman of the education department, students from the general category having 41 per cent marks and above will be interviewed tomorrow. As many as 938 students would be enrolled tomorrow.

Seats in aided school offered

To meet the demand of admission seekers to Class XI, the education department has decided to offer seats in the aided schools of the city.

DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, Chandigarh, has been chosen for the purpose. The education department officials stated that those willing to take admission to the school could submit separate admission forms within two days only to be forwarded to the school in accordance with their merit.

The forms will be available at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 23. Meanwhile, all students of Classes XI and XII, who want to migrate to Mani Majra Complex School and Government Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra, will be admitted directly.

PU Notes

New courses

The department of psychology at Panjab University is going to start two professional courses in psychological testing and professional counselling from the session 2007-08. Twenty seats will be available in each course (15 general + 5 NRI). The eligibility criteria for these one-year courses is master’s in psychology with 55 per cent marks and admissions will be based on merit. The last date for receipt of application forms is July 23. The interviews will be held on July 30 from 9.30 am to 4 pm at the department.

Vacant seats

The board of control of the law department has decided to offer the seats still vacant for admissions to LLB I semester under the NRI category for the session 2007-08. Those candidates, who have qualified the entrance test, but had not opted for the NRI seats, are now eligible to apply by July 13 up to 5 pm.

Counselling

Counselling for BPharmacy/BSc (honours) I for various departments will be held from Wednesday, July 11at Law Auditorium as per the CET merit list displayed there. The list is also available on the university website. The counselling will start at 9 am.

Meanwhile, counselling for all reserved categories (schedule caste, schedule tribes, defence, physically handicapped, terrorist victims, sports, military/para-military forces, freedom fighters and Kashmiri migrants) for BA LLB (honours) five-year integrated course at Panjab University’s regional centre in Ludhiana was held on Tuesday at Law Auditorium. However, there are seats vacant in some of these categories.

Results

Results of the following examinations held in April and May, 2007, have been declared:

BSc (home science) I, MA I (dance) Prabhakar, certificate course in French and BPharma II.

Students can check their results at their respective departments and colleges. They can also log on to the university website www.puchd.ac.in — TNS

From Colleges

Chandigarh
AWARDED: Over a 100 police personnel were given prizes by chairman of the Desh Bhagat Group Dr Zora Singh on Monday. These police personnel had completed a short-term computer course at Desh Bhagat Institute of Management and Computer Sciences, Mandi Gobindgarh. The initiative was taken up by Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Neelabh Kishore.

Dera Bassi
APPROVED: Sri Sukhmani Instistute of Engineering and Technology has got the approval to run courses in MBA and MTech (mechanical engineering). The institute will have 60 seats for MBA and 18 for MTech (mechanical engineering) for 2007-08. Sukhmani Group chairman Prof Avtar Singh has expressed delight over the affiliation, approval and increase in the number of seats for MBA and ME courses. He said the placement cell of the institute would strive for better placements for upcoming courses. — TNS