Intermediate admissions deadline worries students

LAHORE :With the result declaration of Secondary School Certificate (Matric) examinations by all the nine education boards of Punjab on July 25, public and private colleges have announced admission schedule for Intermediate classes.

While private colleges operate without any visible regulatory mechanism, the public sector colleges are but there is no uniformity in the admission process cutoff dates. While some public colleges are accepting admission forms as late as the last week of September 2017, there are many who would wrap up the exercise as early as the first week of August 2017.

The concern, however, among the students is about the early closure of admissions as they believe meeting admission requirements as set by the colleges need more time. 

“I have yet to receive my matriculation certificate while the college has set August 04 as the deadline,” said a worried student Hifza who is seeking admission in Govt Degree College for Women, Islampura. 

Similarly, Govt MAO College’s deadline for admissions is August 03 which majority of admission-seeking students find unrealistic. They argue as to how they could meet the deadline when they did not receive original certificate from the Lahore Board. The deadline set by other colleges within the provincial metropolis is Govt College for Women, Gulberg (August 08), Govt College of Commerce, Baghbanpura (August 25), Govt College for Women, Model Town (September 15), Govt College, Gulberg (August 12) and Govt Shah Hussain College, Township (September 25) etc. Similarly, there is glaring disparity in deadlines set for admissions in other districts of Punjab. 

“Every college demands an attested copy of the original certificate”, said a student Ahmed Ali and added the colleges also have frivolous demand of ‘character certificate’.   A number of students talking to The News spoke harsh about the ‘character certificate’ requirement saying it was ridiculous that kids who are hardly 15 years old are required to submit this certificate at the time of admission to colleges. 

“The truth is clerks in schools are always reluctant to issue this certificate”, said a student, Mohsin, and added “Getting this meaningless document is not less than a nightmare and on top of this the certificate has no utility in the end.” Likewise the admission-seeking students are also confused over online admissions and submitting admission forms in person.

It is pertinent to mention here that few years back the Higher Education Department Punjab launched a PITB-backed Online College Admissions System (OCAS). The system is super easy to use and does not require other documents other than Matric roll number of the student. 

However, the colleges are asking the students to submit the admission forms manually as well which makes the whole exercise hectic and time consuming. The students have demanded Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Minister for Higher Education Syed Raza Ali Gillani to look into the deadline issue and requirement of ‘character certificate’ etc and direct the department to issue a clear-cut policy vis-à-vis online or manual admission process.