Rural quota students can't get verification done, lose seats

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: For the bureaucray , delays can always be justified citing some trivial reason but for students, it could cost them a career. Many students claim that there is an official delay in the rural quota verification which has led to candidates losing out on their desired government college seat.

Sanil Prajwal, a candidate in the KCET exam, claims that he was unable to get into Sahyadri College because he couldn’t submit his rural quota documents. “I have rural certificates for all 10 years. I gave a letter with a request to claim rural quota.

Moreover I have emailed my documents to KEA through the Block Education Officer’s office but there was no response. In the first seat allotment also I didn't have rural eligibility. I don't know whose mistake is responsible for this. But I have to suffer for no fault of mine,” said Sanil.

He also claims that he visited the Block Education Officer’s office several times and contacted officials but nothing was done. “It feels like I am wasting my time and money by going to these offices when nobody responds. This has put my career at stake. In a few days, the second round of counseling will start and I don’t think the verification will happen by then. So I have decided to go with the general category and take admission in whichever college I get a seat,” added Sanil.

As of now, Karnataka provides ten percent horizontal reservation for candidates who have studied from classes one to ten in a rural area in government jobs and government educational institutes. There was a petition request by rural students to extend the quota to students who have studied in rural areas from class seven to ten.

“Maybe it is happening because the verification has shifted to online mode. Earlier students could go to the verification centre and get it done. Now everything is online, so you don’t get to see the process,” said a BEO official.