Low enrolment in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, private colleges blame centralised admission

Neha Saini

Amritsar, July 16

Unaided and private colleges are facing low enrolment rate in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur despite admissions for the 2023-24 academic session having begun more than a month ago.

College managements have blamed the centralised admission portal (CAP) for lower enrolment rate this year, saying that most of the institutes have recorded just 10-15 per cent enrolments, with a majority of seats in all undergraduate courses lying vacant.

Khalsa College has reported only 694 registrations for all undergraduate courses under the CAP. College principal Mehal Singh said only 100 applicants have registered through the CAP for a total of 600 approved seats for BA at Khalsa College institutions.

“Rather than streamlining the admission process, the CAP has created more confusion. The students are mostly unaware of the new admission procedure. At many colleges in Patti and Taran Tarn, not even a single registration through the portal has been reported. Students living in the rural and far-flung areas experience issues with Internet connectivity,” he said.

DAV College, Amritsar, principal Amardeep Gupta said only 10 per cent of the total approved seats in undergraduate courses have been filled in the first round of counselling held on July 10.

“We have around 600-700 seats approved for BSc, BCA, BCom, etc, of which only 100-120 applications have been received,” Gupta said.

The situation is similar in other colleges, including at Hindu College, BBKDAV and others. Online registration on CAP was closed on June 25 initially.

Jaspreet Talwar, Principal Secretary, Higher Education and Languages, said: “The date for registration on the portal was extended as many students were not able to register due to technical difficulties arising due to flooding in several parts of the state. As for the matter of lesser registrations, the process has not ended yet and any subsequent decision will be made by the minister in charge.”

Education Minister Harjot Bains could not be contacted for a comment.

Issue led to protests earlier

• Unaided colleges had opposed the implementation of CAP for the 2023-24 academic session.
• Many parts of the state had seen protests over the issue for two months earlier this year.
• Protesters had maintained that the portal would lead to fewer admissions at a time when many students were already going abroad for studies.
• The educators relented later when grants for their salaries and other expenses were withheld.