The fate of a dozen students is hanging in the balance due to the failure of the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) in giving approval for starting Plus-I courses at the Army School at Pangode.
Though the Central Board of Secondary Education had given approval for the course this year, it is alleged that some vested interests are behind denying the approval.
As the Army School is affiliated to the AWES, its approval is needed for starting a new course. Around 45 students had applied for the Plus-I course this year in the science and commerce streams. Once the authorities failed to get the approval, a dozen students were left in the lurch as they had not applied in any other schools.
While some of the students opted for the state syllabus, a few got admission in private CBSE schools after giving huge donation. Madhu, father of Athira M S, who got admission in a school at Malyankizh near here, said that it was a serious lapse on the part of the school authorities.
“We had given application for the Plus-I course. But towards the end of May, they asked us to look for other schools. Most of the students had not applied in other schools as they were confident of getting admission here,” he said.
However, Army Public School principal Sindhu Suresh said that applications had not been invited for the course.
When asked about the complaints raised by the parents regarding the difficulty in getting admission in other schools, she said that the students were asked to apply in other schools once the course didn’t get approval from the AWES. Shashi Tharoor MP said that the students, who wished to continue studies in the school, were upset.
“Some students had even withdrawn their applications from other schools with the hope of getting admission to the Army school. I have spoken to Defence Minister A K Antony. He said that there were certain Army regulations with regard to starting a new course,” he said.
“However, he has not made a commitment on the issue,” Tharoor added.
Sources said that the AWES was intimated about every procedure when the school had applied for the CBSE approval.
It was alleged that the principal had not taken efforts for getting the approval from the AWES.