Bihar: BEd counselling to start from today; aspirants in a fix

If any candidate decides not to take admission in the allotted college in the first round, they will not get another chance to participate in the second counselling. However, spot round counselling is open for all qualified candidates, Ashok Mehta, nodal state officer, said.

Lalit Narayan Mithila University (LNMU), a nodal university for facilitating admission in BEd course across 14 state varsities, is set to begin the first-round counselling process from Wednesday, which will conclude on September 29.

The first round of counselling will conclude on September 29. (Representational image)

Thousands of students who are aspiring to take admission in BEd course are in a fix as they will get only one chance for participating in the counselling process.

As per LMNU, more than 1.12 lakh aspirants qualified BEd Common Entrance Exam this year. Of them, over 73,000 candidates registered for taking admission across 350 BEd colleges in the state.

Ashok Mehta, nodal state officer, said, “If any candidate decides not to take admission in the allotted college in the first round, they will not get another chance to participate in the second counselling. However, spot round counselling is open for all qualified candidates.”

Earlier, BEd aspirants were free to participate in the multi-round counselling process and upgrade their college choice in the next counselling round as per the availability of vacant seats.

An aspirant Prakash Kumar, who scored 92 in the common entrance exam, said, “I have been allotted a private college, which is situated 115km far from my house. It was my sixth college preference.”

“Closing window for second-round counselling is unfair for meritorious students. I deserve a better college but it’s risky to leave the first chance. Spot admission is based on a first-come-first-serve policy, which may also lead to the backdoor entry of low scoring students in good colleges”, he added.

Meanwhile, another section of students, who were allotted College of Teacher Education (CTE), Saharsa, are in distress as the college’s affiliation has been cancelled after the publication of the college allotment list on September 18.

Mehta said, “Those who have been allotted CTE need not panic as we are trying to figure out a solution. Candidates will be informed of the future course of action through SMS.”

LMNU has scheduled the second round of counselling from October 16 to October 23.