After the release of this year’s Madhyamik results, the process of admission to XI has already started. But, the admission picture in Kolkata schools is very different. Another year, long queues were seen at the school ever since the notification for admission to class 11 came out. But this time, most of the school authorities are saying that they are doubtful whether all the seats they have in XI will be filled or not.
Incidentally, the number of candidates in secondary this time was about four lakh less than last time. A little over one lakh of them failed. In this context, some people think that the pressure of admission to XI has reduced. According to a section of head teachers, many students are not able to fulfill the eligibility criteria set by the schools for admission in science, arts or commerce branches due to poor overall results. At the same time, the question that is becoming bigger is, aren’t the students who studied from the state board and got good results in secondary school going to other board schools?
Mitra Institution, Bhavanipur branch headmaster Raja Dey said that their school has 50 seats in 11th Arts, 40 in Science and 70 in Commerce. Raja said, “The recruitment process has started since last week. But still not all the seats are filled. Other times students from outside schools would come in after students from our school were admitted. This time the trend is very low. In particular, the admission rate of students in science and commerce streams is quite low.”
Read Also: authorities are responsible for the students of ‘illegal’ schools, Said the High Court
The same tone was heard in the voice of Shampa Chakraborty, headmistress of Taki Girls School, Sealdah. He said that there are 150 seats in Science, Arts and Commerce. Not all admissions yet. As a result, they are thinking of giving some concessions in terms of admission conditions in all the three categories. Sanjay Barua, Headmaster of Narayan Das Bangur Memorial Multipurpose School, Bangur said, they have 50 seats each in science, arts and commerce branches. So far only half of the seats have been filled.
The issue of shortage of teachers is also coming up behind the low admission rate in XI. For example, according to Chandan Maiti, state secretary of the Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses, “Many schools do not have subject teachers. As a result, students are not getting the subjects they want to get admission in. They are forced to move to another board. Because, the students fear that if there is no teacher, if there is no class of the related subject, its effect will ultimately be the result of the exam. So the tendency to move to other boards has increased.”
Shampao, head teacher of Taki Girls, is talking about this aspect. He said that in eleventh their school has psychology. There is also demand for the subject. But, there is no teacher for that subject. As a result, even if someone wants to be admitted, he cannot be admitted. However, in the words of an official of the Education Department, “From next year, the number of secondary examinees will not be so low as this time. This time the situation is somewhat exceptional.
