Meritorious school flooded with queries

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 30

With applications for meritorious schools beginning to be received, there is a great rush of students for admission to these prestigious schools.

Across Punjab, as many as 4,000 students have already applied for admission to the meritorious schools. While 10,000 students in the state got marks above 80 per cent, in Jalandhar about 500 students got over 80 per cent marks.

The last date for submitting applications will be June 7.

On June 12, the entrance test for all students seeking admission to the meritorious schools will be held.

The entrance test of 150 marks will be a class-10 level paper with three sections — mathematics, English and science — carrying 50 marks each. The three-hour test will be held at all district headquarters.

Sources said students tend to be out of touch with studies after class X. For an impressive performance, those wishing to crack this year’s entrance should keep studying until the test happens.

While only students from government schools can formally apply for admission TO the meritorious schools, this year the merit schools are also being flooded with queries from private schools, whose students are keen to seek admission in these schools.

Principal meritorious school, Jalandhar, KK Aeri, said, “I am getting a lot of calls from students seeking admission in the school. This year even a lot of private school students are also very keen to seek admission in merit schools. So far, I have received at least eight to 10 calls from private school students keen on admission with us. In fact, this morning a student also came to the school with her parents seeking admission. But since it’s only for government school students, we can’t provide the admission.”

DEO (S) Harinder Pal said, “A lot of queries from private schools are also coming in, but we can only permit government school students. All applications for the merit schools are going to the PSEB directly through online applications. We expect many applications from Jalandhar and many from the neighbouring districts too.”