No UT quota for admission to Class XI

Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 27

The UT Education Department has decided to skip the UT pool of 85 per cent quota for students seeking admission to Class XI this year too due to the enforcement of the model code of conduct.

Education Secretary BL Sharma said, “We are not implementing any UT pool in schools as about 80 per cent students are from Chandigarh only and there is no harm in admitting 15% smart children from outside UT. Also, due to the existing election code, we cannot adopt any new policy till May.”

Under the UT quota proposed last year, the UT children would hold 85% of the total seats for admission in government schools whereas 15 per cent was meant for children outside Chandigarh. However, the proposal was turned down last year.

There is an existing UT pool for admissions in colleges, wherein students, who have passed Class X and XII from Chandigarh, get 85 per cent seats in city colleges and the remaining 15% seats are for children outside UT.

It is due to UT pool in colleges that students from Mohali and Panchkula take admission from Class IX onwards as up to Class VIII, a child should be a resident of Chandigarh to be able to study in city schools. Also, the RTE Act defines neighbourhood criteria for Classes up to VIII.

Parents in Chandigarh have been demanding a UT pool in schools for a long time. Nitin Goyal, president of the Chandigarh Parents’ Association, said, “There should be a quota for UT kids in admissions as well as jobs in the administration.”

The RTE’s neighbourhood school defines the limits of neighbourhood schools as 1-km walking distance from the habitation of a child at the primary level (Class I to V) and within 3-km walking distance for upper primary level (Class VI to VIII). There will be only two counselling sessions for Class XI admissions so that studies of students do not suffer.