Meritorious school aspirants to pay ₹200 for Class 11 admission test
10,378 STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR ADMISSION TO NINE SCHOOLS THAT AIM TO PROVIDE QUALITY EDUCATION TO WEAKER SECTIONS
LUDHIANA: A pet project of the previous Akali government, senior secondary residential schools for meritorious students — aimed to impart quality education to weaker sections — will charge ₹200 as fee from young aspirants to register for the test for admission to Class 11.
The admission will take place through a common entrance test in all 22 districts on June 25.
This is for the first time the Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students has asked the students to pay ₹200 to be able to register online.
After carrying out admissions without any test for the first two years (2014-15 and 2015-16), the authorities conducting a test for the first time last year, but no fee was charged.
The meritorious schools project director, Major General KAS Bhullar (retired), has issued a letter to all district education officers (DEOs, secondary) that carries details about the admission process, including the new provision of registration fee.
On being contacted by Hindustan Times, the project director said: “The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) has to pay for paper printing, conduct of the exam and collection and correction of papers.”
“This is the reason, a nominal fee of ₹200 will be charged from the students for the entrance exam,” added the project director.
There are 10,378 students of government, Dashmesh and Adarsh schools in the state who have scored 80% or above in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class-10 examinations this year and are eligible for 4,650 seats at the nine meritorious schools.
These meritorious schools provide free education and accommodation to the students, while preparing them for entrance examinations of prestigious institutes of engineering, management, law, and medicine within and outside the state.
In the recently declared Punjab School Education Board Class-12 results, the meritorious schools recorded a pass percentage of 98.3% as compared to 62.4% recorded statewide.
NO INFO ON SSA WEBSITE
Even as the online registration for admission to the meritorious schools is set to begin tomorrow, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) website is yet to upload the details of the test.
Sushil Kumar, a parent, said: “My daughter has scored 88% in Class 10 and wants to take admission in the Ludhiana meritorious school. I have been checking the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) website for the past one week, but can’t find any information regarding registration for the test.”