DJ College admits students with low grades contrary to policy
Established in 1887 DJ Science College has been serving for more than 130 years. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
The provincial Directorate of College Education ignored the merit-based central admission policy (CAP) of Sindh E-Centralised College Admission Programme (SECCAP) in Karachi's Deyaram Jethamal (DJ) Sindh Government Science College.
SECAP is an online transparent admission process based on merit where admission in XI in government colleges is granted on merit as per the past closing percentage of the institution.
In 2021, admissions to DJ Sindh Government Science College closed at 82.6% for pre-engineering group. However, students with C, D and E grades were granted admission in DJ Sindh Government Science College in the newly opened Computer Science faculty, while those having A and B grade were denied entrance to the most sought after science college of the city, according to the information available on SECCAP online dashboard.
According to officials of the Directorate of College Education, XI placement list for DJ Science College was sent by the central admission committee, in which 89 students got admission in faculty of pre-engineering, 245 in pre-medical and 106 in the newly established computer science faculty. According to this information, 440 students were admitted this year.
In these computer science admissions, 12 students of A+ grade, 11 students of A grade, 19 students of B grade, 34 students of C grade and 26 students of D grade were admitted. However as per the merit policy, students of A and B grades should have gotten admission instead of C and D grade.
The matter did not stop there. Documents show that four students of grade E were also given admission in computer science, while according to the rules students of grade E are not admitted to science faculty.
When The Express Tribune contacted Assistant Professor Rashid Khoso, who runs the central admission policy, he said that sometimes students tamper the mark sheet to get admission. However, when he was asked how could students tamper numbers when the placement lists in colleges were issued on the data obtained from the Board of Secondary Education Karachi? He said the college concerned can cancel the admission if there is any discrepancy in the placement list.
Besides, to confirm Rashid Khoso's claim and to know the position of the college administration, The Express Tribune contacted DJ Science College Principal Professor Meher Mangi. However, he avoided contact and did not respond to the message.
It should be remembered that 22 years ago, in the year 2000, the central admission policy (CAP) was made by the government of Sindh to reject the pressure and establish merit in government colleges of Karachi.
The authority of admissions was transferred from the principals to the central admission committee because principals of big and reputed colleges generally complained of pressure from student organisations, political parties and ministers for admissions against merit.
In the colleges where admissions were closed at A1 grade, they had to make C and D grade admissions under pressure.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2022.