Students’ quandary: CBSE results not out yet, PU admissions about to shut

Sanjay R Murty | NT Bengaluru:

Every year, thousands of students who complete Class 10 under CBSE and ICSE syllabi go on to join pre-university colleges under the Karnataka Pre-University Board. The process of shifting between boards is often ridden with challenges and takes a toll on the morale of students who are otherwise optimistic about getting into a good college.

Students who finished their CBSE Class 10 exams towards the end of May had to rush to apply to PU colleges, as the admission process had already begun. Since they had not yet received their results, their applications were to be based on the marks they obtained in the first term examination held in November 2021.

Many students were left in the lurch when they did not have thier marksheet to produce at the college. “Neither the board nor our school had given us our marksheet for the first term exam. We had to prepare it on our own and then get it attested at our school,” a student who applied to a renowned girls’ PU college in the city said. She added that the school authorities were not cooperative in getting their marksheet attested. She was able to get a seat in the college after waiting for the cutoff to go down, even though she was confident of scoring well in the second term

. Another student, who had applied to the same college, could not get admission to the PCMC (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science) combination as her first term score was below the cut-off set for PCMC. However, students from the state board could easily get through as their results had been announced. “I am sure I will score higher in the second term exam. In the first term, I scored 91%. The cutoff percentage for PCMC here is 94%,” she said. One of her friends who had scored slightly less than her could get a seat due to a lower cut-off set for the students of other categories.

Central board schools

The CBSE has not yet finalsed the manner in which scores of the two terms need to be added up to obtain a final result. It has still not been decided whether the final result would have a 50:50 ratio of the two terms or a 30:70 ratio of the first and the second term scores, respectively.

The schools have reportedly not added the marks scored in internal assessment to the scores of the first term exam. “The addition of internal marks could be beneficial to students as it increases the overall percentage,” a student said.

Indifferent schools, colleges

According to applicants, there was no consideration for students who were yet to receive results amidst the approaching deadline for admission to the first-year pre-university course. On June 8, the Department of Pre-university Education noted that CBSE and ICSE students had not received their exam results and released a circular extending the last date for application for 1st PU to July 11. Nevertheless, some colleges have been telling students that the seats are ‘full’. Students have been reportedly told that admission will be closed and may be opened up at a later date.

The officials of the college declined to answer News Trail’s queries. The committee member of Bangalore Sahodaya Schools Complex (an association of CBSE schools in the city) told News Trail that there have not been any complaints regarding the issue since most of the students get admitted to Class 11th under the CBSE syllabus.

Many such CBSE Class 10th students have felt helpless and dejected on not being able to get admitted to a good college despite having performed well continuously.