SALEM: Nearly over 100 students and their parents staged a protest on Thursday evening on the premises of the Salem Government Arts College, where the second round of admission counselling is underway, after the management informed them that the counselling process for the day had concluded and no more candidates could be accommodated.
The students and parents said that they had been made to wait since that morning for more than nine hours, only to be told to participate in the next round of counselling. They accused the management of lacking clarity on seat availability, while college sources said it was common practice to invite more candidates than there are available seats, as not all students necessarily opt for the same courses.
The officials said that nearly 800 students were called for the second round of counselling to fill around 700 seats. By Thursday evening, as the available seats had been filled, the college administration advised the students to attend the next round of counselling, a move strongly opposed by some students and parents who demanded immediate admission. Police later arrived at the spot and held discussions with the agitating students and parents. Following assurances from the authorities and an explanation of the admission procedure, around 9 pm, the crowd dispersed.
Principal J Premalatha told TNIE, "We tried to explain how seats are allotted through an open counselling process based strictly on merit, reservation, and government guidelines. However, some parents were not convinced and demanded that the admissions be offered immediately to all the remaining candidates, which was impossible as the available seats had already been filled. We have advised them to participate in the next round of counselling." She said admissions were being carried out transparently and in accordance with the reservation policy prescribed by the government. The principal further noted that the college has a total intake of 1,702 seats across 20 undergraduate programmes, while nearly 26,000 students had applied for admission this year, resulting in a competition for seats.
The admission process commenced on June 5 with counselling under the special category quota, which had 148 seats, of which 85 seats were filled. The general counselling commenced on June 8 (Monday), during which 366 seats in science courses were filled. Similarly, 336 seats in arts courses were filled on Tuesday, 206 science seats on Wednesday, and 271 arts seats on Thursday. According to the college administration, a total of 1,264 seats have been filled so far, while the counselling for the remaining 438 seats would be conducted in the upcoming rounds. The principal added that seats under the MBC, SC, ST, and SCA categories are almost filled in several courses, while a comparatively larger number of seats remain available under the BC category.
