THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the state government increased the number of Plus-I seats by 20 per cent, the higher secondary school teachers allege that schools in rural areas in the state witnessed a slump in admission rate owing to the mass transfer of students to schools in urban areas. According to O Shoukathali, general secretary, Kerala Higher Secondary Teachers Union, 41 per cent of seats are yet to be filled even after the Plus-I classes began on June 6.
“The state government’s decision to start classes much earlier during the first week of June has turned out to be a farce.As per the statistics, only 59 pc of students got admission to the schools for Plus-I, while 41 per cent of students is still awaiting admission. Moreover, when the government increased 20 per cent of seats in each school, students from rural areas sought transfer to schools in town and cities for availing of more facilities. This created a circumstance of very low student enrolment while some schools in rural areas don’t even have a single student for Plus-I admission,” he said.
The unions also alleged the schools had conducted admission process in haste so that they could not even collect the originals of required documents for admission.The state government had ordered to increase the seats for the first year higher secondary course in government and aided schools by 20 per cent in the current academic year. As per the order, the government can admit 10 students additionally in each batch in all the schools.
However, there is no increase in the number of seats in unaided schools. Currently, a total of 3,60,000 seats are available at higher secondary schools in the state.With the increase in the number of seats, 62,000 more students can be admitted. Though General Education Minister C Raveendranath had earlier decided to implement it in the first allotment process, the government could not proceed with it owing to the model code of conduct. The government had also entrusted the higher secondary director to submit a report to change the higher secondary batches, which are lying vacant in certain schools due to the shortage of students, to other schools.
41% seats are yet to be filled even after the Plus-I classes began on June 6