West Bengal colleges face admission crisis as student numbers plummet

West Bengal appears to be witnessing a drastic drop in the number of students seeking admission to undergraduate courses in colleges run or aided by the State Government, with institutions fearing that many seats will remain vacant.

One reason is the unprecedented delay in starting the admission process. The process now takes place through a centralised portal, mainly due to a new OBC list prepared by the Trinamool Congress government being caught in a legal tangle. Another reason is that many school-leaving students are choosing to pursue higher studies in other States.

At the current pace, colleges will be closing for Durga Puja by the time the admission process is completed. According to the new admission schedule issued by the Higher Education Department on August 22, physical verification will take place from September 23 to 25. This verification occurs after the mop-up round, once the list is final. The festival begins on September 28, with festivities starting even earlier.

Classes are scheduled to begin on August 29 once the first round of the admission process is complete. However, fourth-semester university exams are taking place at this time, at least in Kolkata. It remains to be seen how colleges will manage to hold classes for freshers whilst conducting these exams simultaneously.

Apart from this unusual delay, the dip in the number of students seeking admission is troubling the colleges. For example, at Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya, the centralised portal showed 386 students expressing interest in the college. However, only 94 have paid the fees so far. Of these, only one showed up on day one of physical verification on August 23. On day two, these figures rose from 94 to 131 and from one to 55. The institution saw this as “positive” in the current scenario.

“The admission picture is still quite unclear till now. Only four days have been given by the department for physical verification of candidates from the first merit list. So, we’ll have to wait till August 27 to get a full-fledged picture. Hopefully, the numbers will increase a bit,” said Ayantika Ghosh, principal of Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya. 

Another principal, who did not want to be quoted nor the college to be named, told The Hindu: “The higher secondary results were published on May 7. Since then, June and July have passed, and now it is the end of August. By this calculation, it’s been over three and a half months, and students are still unable to get admission. As a result, the admission process in our State has been disrupted. The Joint Entrance Exam results also show that many students who were initially here have gone elsewhere. This makes it clear that many people are no longer dependent on the State Government-managed education system. This is a matter that needs to be thought about.”

The principal further said: “Even the Calcutta University hasn’t published an academic calendar, which is causing problems for the State Government to maintain a liaison with them. Everything is in a state of disarray. On top of that, the OBC case is adding to the worries in the education sector, and it’s not giving a very positive vibe.”

The principal of another well-known college, also requesting anonymity, attributed the dip in the number of admissions to various factors: “This year, fewer students sat for the Plus-2 examination. Also, there is a general trend towards an easy path to get a job, not the general line of education. Then there was an inordinate delay in admissions due to the OBC issue.”

New Alipore College principal Jaydeep Sarangi isn’t complaining much. “My college is happy with the initial trend. So far, for us, the number of allotments is 1,245, the number of admissions 585 and verifications 85. For me, it is satisfactory.”