NIOS students to miss admission deadline

Students finishing Class 12 from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) might miss the deadline for applying to University of Mumbai-affiliated colleges as their board exam results will only be out on June 8.

Students finishing Class 12 from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) might miss the deadline for applying to University of Mumbai-affiliated colleges as their board exam results will only be out on June 8.

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The last date for applying to colleges in the city is June 7.

A group of parents has been petitioning both the NIOS to declare its results quickly whilst also pursuing the matter with the university to get them to push the deadline. More than 5,000 students across the state are enrolled in Class 12 through the NIOS.

“These students have a full right to enter the mainstream, especially since it is a matter of just 24 or 48 hours of extending the deadline,” said a relative of an affected student.

The All India Human Rights Organisation also wrote to the university on Friday, asking them to reconsider their deadline. “Otherwise these students will lose a year,” said Darshan Soni, president of the organisation.

The NIOS regional office said it had forwarded all letters and faxes from aggrieved candidates to its head office in Noida. “Results declaration is a tough job, and results when declared are for the whole country,” said Sanjay Sinha, director of the regional centre in Pune. “It is tough to hasten our result. The university can extend their deadline.”

The university didn’t say it would extend its deadline but promised to work around the problem by trying to accommodate the students through other means. These include accommodating affected students at the university’s Institute of Distance and Open Learning and in colleges where vacancies remain after the admission process is completed.

“They can apply later, many colleges will have vacancies,” said Naresh Chandra, pro-vice -chancellor. “We will look further into the matter.”