PANJIM: Amidst heavy rush for higher secondary admissions, the Education Department has decided to increase the seats, particularly in science stream where 120 additional students in Margao alone need to be accommodated. Four higher secondary schools in Margao will now have additional science divisions, besides one in Mapusa.
In a high level meeting headed by Director G P Bhat on Monday, the department also announced that students, who have failed to get admissions despite eligibility, should register their names with the south education zone from where they will be placed in nearby higher secondary schools.
The seats shortfall has triggered panic in the students as well as their parents who fear they would not get admissions. Bhat has appealed not to panic as all measures are being chalked out to ensure their admissions. “The SSC pass-outs who are have not got admissions in class 11th are advised to register their names in the south zone, Margao to facilitate the Education Department to place them in various higher secondary schools in and around Margao,” he told Herald, after emerging from the meeting.
As per records, there are 999 seats in the science stream of which 190 are vacant till Monday even as the admission process is underway. Bhat explained there is a total requirement of 310 seats of which only 120 will have to be created. “We are opening new divisions to accommodate all the eligible students. Not a single student will be deprived of admissions,” he assured.
The department is also open to creating additional divisions for arts and commerce streams, subject to the response from students. He further assured to remedy the situation by June 12.
A total of 21,183 students, including those under exempted category appeared for the SSC examination in March 2015 of which 17,163 students cleared the exams. The pass percentage under ‘whole category’ stood at 85.15 percent with nearly 3,000 additional students passing out compared to last year. The leap in the overall pass percentage has been by 2.36 percent this year.
It has been reported that higher secondary schools across the state have a total capacity of 5,000 seats in the science stream, 5,200 for commerce, 3,800 in arts and 3,000 seats in vocational.
