Elite colleges turn away top students

LAHORE:

A large number of students who secured maximum marks in the recent matriculation results are facing difficulties getting admission to reputed colleges of the province.

A majority of the students are unable to qualify for admission to the top government and private colleges, leaving the parents concerned about the future of their children.

Many students who had scored the highest marks in the annual examination have failed the Government College University (GCU) entry test.

College officials say they are unable to admit all the top scorers due to the availability of limited seats. Tough competition has started among the students wishing to get admission to the top government colleges of Lahore.

Other reputed colleges in the province are also seeing tough competition on the basis of merit as thousands of students got maximum marks from the nine Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) in Punjab.

As many as 707 candidates secured 1,100 out of 1,100 marks in the Lahore BISE. Thousands of students across the province secured over 90% marks in the matriculation results this year. However, the top students are now witnessing a tough competition among themselves for admission to colleges.

In an interesting development, private colleges that earlier ran advertisement campaigns to enroll students have closed admissions after filling all seats. Lahore is also called the city of colleges and thousands of students from other districts and provinces also seek admission here every year.

However, this year the students with top marks from other districts are facing tough competition with local students due to the generous grading in the exams.

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The GCU, which is among the top institutions of the country, changed its admission policy in view of the high marks awarded beyond expectations by the boards and introduced an entry test for the first time.

According to GCU sources, around 20,000 students submitted applications for 1,600 seats at the intermediate level offered in FSc pre-medical, pre-engineering, humanities, computer science, commerce, and general science.

“It was very difficult for us this year to adjust all top students, so a new admission policy was introduced and we organised an entry test. It was disappointing that many students having top marks could not clear the entrance test. We wonder how they had secured top marks in the board exam,” a senior official of the GCU told The Express Tribune.

The official said the university was also interviewing the candidates before finalising the merit lists, claiming that only deserving students would be admitted.

The father of a top student in the matriculation exam, Safdar Hussain, said, “The sad thing is that good private institutions are also not giving admissions to the top scorers because they are aware of the circumstances. My son got 1,050 out of 1,100 marks but is struggling to get admission to a good private college. The colleges say they have no space.”

He said the joy of the parents of the top scorers has proved short-lived because they were not getting admission despite their high marks. The parent said the students deprived of admission would be left at the mercy of private academies or would have to study as external candidates.

Girls colleges in the city are witnessing the same situation.