GCU Inter admissions before result worries students

LAHORE:Government College University (GCU) Vice-Chancellor’s announcement to start the admission process for the university’s intermediate programmes has caused concern among students who are still busy in the practical portion of their matriculation exams 2023.

The result of Secondary School Certificate (Matric) is a prerequisite for admission to intermediate classes whereas all the nine exam boards of Punjab have yet to complete the exam exercise as presently Class-10 students are preparing for the practical portion of exams which will end in the first week of June 2023. The other concern highlighted by the stakeholders is the admission to intermediate classes on a self-supporting basis. The GC University Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi, took to social media on Sunday and shared details about admission to the university’s intermediate programmes including FSc Pre-Engineering, FSc Pre-Medical, General Science, Computer Science, Commerce and lastly Arts (Humanities) as regular and evening programmes. For the first time the university also announced a Self-Supporting Programme in FSc Pre-Engineering, FSc Pre-Medical and Computer Science to be offered in the second shift.

As per the details shared by the VC, the admission process would start from May 02 and continue till May 29 while the entrance test would be held on June 10, 2023. A number of students and their parents talking to The News said that GCU started the admission process quite early as the students had yet to appear in the practical portion of the exam. Similar concerns were raised by the stakeholders on Prof Zaidi’s social media posts. “Starting the admission process early puts unnecessary pressure on the students to perform well in their grade 10 practical exams for which they are preparing these days,” commented Asad, parent of a student. Another concerned parent, Tariq Saleem, said the GC University should wait for the students' grade 10 results before starting the admission process. If the entry test is required, the university can conduct it after the students have received their final grades. This will ensure a fair and transparent admission process, without putting undue pressure on the students. “It is not okay for the GCU to start admissions for Intermediate classes while the practical exams of grade-10 are still ongoing. The reason being that the students have not yet received their final grades and are not aware of their eligibility for intermediate classes. It is unfair to make the students go through the process of applying and taking entry tests without knowing their final results,” Tariq added. Similarly, a citizen, Farhan, said the government should discourage self-supporting programmes as the same were against the spirit of competition and fair play. “Introducing self-supporting at intermediate level is one of the worst decisions you have made. Intermediate is the only branch which is keeping GC's legacy alive and introducing self supporting is just going to add a dent to that,” commented an individual person on the VC’s Twitter post.

However, VC Prof Asghar Zaidi while defending the move said that the university would take the entrance tests immediately after the end of the matriculation exams. “This way, we test the students at the time they are well prepared as they have just finished being examined for what they have learned.”

Prof Zaidi said, “We will do the testing again close to the time the results will come. Thus, we give this year two chances for students to appear on entrance tests for the coveted position at GCU. The aggregate merit will be calculated once the results are announced.”

About the self-supporting programmes, the VC said that the seats of the self-supporting programmes will also be offered on a competitive basis. “The aggregate merit will be calculated in the same manner as in the regular programmes. Also, note that these self-support programmes seats are additional seats to what we offer in the regular programme. If anything, we are offering additional chances to Intermediate students, and this time we are attracting those who prefer to study in the afternoons rather than in the mornings,” he concluded.