THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Due to a change in the Higher Secondary admission procedure this year, which was necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of students ended up without getting admission in any school or had to settle for less-preferred school-subject combination when the first allotment process ended last week. Unlike previous years when the submission of online application form was carried out in schools with the help of teachers at the help-desks, the onus of submitting the application was entirely on students this year. This reform was introduced to avoid crowding in schools when the pandemic is at its peak.
Most of the students were clueless about selecting the right school-subject combination and therefore relied on Akshaya centres or cyber cafes for submitting applications. Since the personnel at these centres were equally clueless about the complicated process, wrong school-subject combinations were selected in most cases.
“Selection of the wrong ‘caste’ option in the application form led to a number of students being denied admission in the reserved seats. Earlier, such errors used to be rectified by teachers at the help desks during the submission of application,” said the principal of a government higher secondary school.
An anomaly in the admission software was another issue that vexed the students and teachers this year. In previous years, the details submitted by students during admission could be edited and errors can be rectified before final confirmation. However, this year, the details once entered cannot be corrected. However, after widespread complaints, the Directorate allowed the option for correction before the final confirmation.
“Errors in the online application is a common feature. This year saw an increase as the onus was on students. However, we had widely publicised the help-desk numbers for their assistance. The erroneous applications will not add up to more than one per cent of the total candidates,” said Prakashan P P, Joint Director (Academic), Higher Secondary Directorate. “Besides, the Directorate will conduct a supplementary allotment after the second round, for candidates whose applications were rejected or those who could not apply till now. We expect the problems to be resolved through the supplementary allotment,” the official added.
ADMISSION WOES
Single window admission process presently under way
3.6 lakh Plus-1 seats in single-window admission process
First allotment process conducted from Sept 14 to 19
Many applications were rejected due to glaring errors
Supplementary allotment promised for such candidates
