Chandigarh Class-11 admissions: Students demanding seat allotment protest outside DEO’s office
Students and their parents held a protest outside the district education officer’s (DEO) office in Sector 19 on Thursday, alleging that they had not gotten admission into Class 11 at a government school after the third counselling, despite meeting requirements
Students and their parents held a protest outside the district education officer’s (DEO) office in Sector 19 on Thursday, alleging that they had not gotten admission into Class 11 at a government school after the third counselling, despite meeting requirements.
Some of the protesting students said they had been allotted seats, but the UT education department had not given enough time to pay the fees.
The UT education department had organised three rounds of counselling starting from August 1. As many as 2,101 students had applied for 1,826 vacant seats in the third counselling. After the allotment list was released on October 22, students had till midnight on October 26 to deposit the fees. As per rules, students who didn’t pay the fees by the deadline would have to forfeit their seat.
Around 20-30 students and their parents visited the DEO’s office on Thursday morning to request that they be allocated seats and when the department refused, they started protesting and raising slogans outside the office. However, the situation was resolved without the police getting involved.
Ritam Kumar of Sector 25, a student, said, “We don’t have internet at home and my parents don’t use any online payment methods. During the window for fee payment fixed by the department, the cyber cafes in our area were closed due to festivities. Even on Wednesday, I was unable to go anywhere.”
Sumit, the elder brother of another student, said, “We had asked the school principal to tell us when the list is displayed and if my younger brother has been allotted a seat. On Saturday, she had said it is yet to be published. I was informed on Wednesday and given only an hour to pay the fees. The department must make some provisions for such students, as we don’t want them to waste an entire year.”
Director of school education Harsuhinder Pal Singh Brar said they are aware of the matter and looking into it.
For the previous two counsellings also, the department had extended the last date for paying fees by a few days as some students had faced glitches.
