Complexities dog college admission

Several top colleges in Dhaka are yet to initiate the admission process for Grade XI students because the list of successful candidates has not reached them.

Shahidul Islambdnews24.com
Published : 29 June 2015, 01:01 PM
Updated : 29 June 2015, 01:01 PM

The first merit list for college admission was published after Sunday midnight after a three-day delay caused by technical glitches.

Viquarunnisa Noon School and College has decided to admit students who passed the SSC examinations from its school, although some of them did not feature on the merit list.

Hundreds of students thronged the colleges for admission on Monday morning.

No-one from the Inter-Education Board Coordination Sub-Committee was available for comment on the matter.

A total of 10,93,374 students were selected for admission on the basis of first merit list posted on www.xiclassadmission.gov.bd.

They will be able to complete admission by June 29-30 and July 1-2.

According to a ministry directive, colleges cannot admit students who are not on the list.

Viquarunnisa’s Principal Sufia Khatun defended her decision to admit students outside the list.

She claimed some of the school’s students had not featured on the merit list despite being ‘eligible’.

“We’ll admit them irrespective of whether they make it on the board’s merit list or not, as they have studied here for 10 years,” she told bdnews24.com.

Khatun said Viquarunnisa would take in 2,000 students. “We’ll admit more students if necessary,” she said when asked if they would give admission in excess of their capacity.

Several students were seen to be visibly upset in the morning, as their names did not appear on the merit list but Principal Khatun assured them of enrolment, a student claimed.

Mirpur’s Manipur School and College, too, was in a dilemma.

Principal Forhad Hossain said they were unable to start admissions as they had not got the merit list until afternoon.

“Many guardians are thronging the school along with the students,” he said. “We are worried.”

Ideal School and College’s Principal Shahan Ara Begum said they had not received the list until 2pm.

They were admitting only students who had passed SSC from the institution and got a confirmation SMS on their mobile phones.

“But we are unable to admit other students who qualified for our college,” she said.

Candidates seeking admission to Dhaka City College, Trust College, Uttara City College, among others, saw the process run into complications.

Nipa Sultana, general secretary of a coordination council of parents, said they had received complaints about college admission.

She alleged that many students, who passed SSC from the science stream, had been listed with commerce students.

“Many with lower GPA have been made eligible for admission,” she claimed, questioning the merit list.

Admission committee chief and Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan was not available for comment on the allegations.

Inter-Education Board Coordination Sub-Committee chief Prof Abu Bakar Siddique, too, declined to speak.

The committee’s exam controller Prof Srikanta Kumar Chand suggested contacting College Inspector Prof Asfakus Salehin but the latter refused to speak on the matter.