Seats for BA reduced in Chandigarh govt colleges, students concerned

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 3

Reducing the number of seats for Bachelor of Arts (BA) course in the four local government colleges will surely raise concern for the Directorate of Higher Education, UT, and interested students.

As many as 10,765 students applied for admission to BA in four government colleges — Post Graduate Government College (PGGC), Sector 11 and Sector 46, and Post Graduate Government College for Girls (PGGCG) Sector 11 and Sector 42 — till 5 pm today.

In 2019, there were 2,600 seats for BA in the four government colleges. Over 13,051 students applied for admission to BA last year.

Notably, the number of students will increase as the department has extended the last date for submission of applications to August 5. An announcement in this regard was made today.

Considering popularity of the course, the authorities decided to reduce seats for the BA course. A minimum of 100 seats each were reduced in the four government colleges this year.

“Seats have been rationalised by respective principals of colleges keeping in view available infrastructure and faculty,” said Rubinderjit Singh Brar, Director Higher Education. All government higher education institutions are funded by the MHRD under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme, which gives a boost to infrastructure and resolves faculty problems.

On the contrary, local private colleges have 5,650 seats for the same course. Interestingly, certain colleges have the option of ‘subject to increase the number of seats’.

“Instead of reducing the number of seats for BA course, the administration should have asked colleges to remove their shortcomings. To make sure availability of faculty and upgrade infrastructure is in the hands of the administration. If college authorities do not reveal their actual status, they should be punished. The information about shortcomings should be passed on to the MHA,” said an applicant requesting anonymity.

Last date for admissions extended till tomorrow

Chandigarh: The Directorate of Higher Education, UT, has extended the last date to apply online for admissions in local colleges for centralised and non-centralised courses till Wednesday (August 5). Earlier, the last date for submission of forms was August 3. “However the two-day extension has been given keeping in mind delay in result of the National Institute of Open School,” said an official. “The new admission schedule will be released tomorrow,” he added.

35,521 applications received

Meanwhile, the department has received 35,521 applications under joint admissions for local colleges. For non-centralised courses, 19,392 applications were received while for centralised as many as 16,129 applications were received till date. In all, 6,179 students applied for BCom, 3,162 for BBA, 1,994 for BCA, 1,487 for BSc (Non-medical) and 935 for BSc (Medical). For BA, 10,745 applications were received for the four government colleges till date.