‘DIFFICULT AREA’ STUDENT DENIED ENTRY TO UNIVERSITY
UGC blames incorrect data in application through Internet: no comment on student’s application sent by post.
Astudent of Kotamuduna in Passara has been deprived of admission to a university due to an error in registration through the Internet a system introduced recently by the University Grants Commission.
The victim, R.m.saumya Udeshika,(19) who sat the GCE Advanced Level in 2015 from the Kotamuduna Mahav Vidyalaya in the Buttala Education Zone after obtaining three “A” passes in the Arts stream had applied for registration through the Internet as advised by the UGC.
She said she was the only student of the Kotamuduna Maha Vidyalaya , a school situated in a remote area in the Monaragala District, who qualified for admission to university in 2015.
“I received a letter from the UGC on January 19, 2016 that I was qualified for admission to university and that I should register under the relevant subject stream on or before January 21, 2016 through their web site. We do not have Internet facilities in our village so I made a long journey to Passara and with the help of an employee of an Internet café, transmitted the required data for registration.
However, when I heard nothing from the UGC I met its chairman who told me that my registration in the website had an error and that I would not be admitted to a university and advised me to sit the examination again. Being a student of a remote area school in Buttala I am quite innocent in the use of the Internet and I had to depend on an employee of the internet café to apply for registration through the UGC website. I had also forwarded a seperate application through the normal channel for registration. My parents were overjoyed when they heard that I was qualified for university admission, but now there is much sorrow in the house. I have not received any positive response to my appeal to the UGC in this regard,” she said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the UGC Dr. Mohan Silva refused to comment on the issue until a formal investigation issue was held.
However Udeshika said no investigation into the incident had been made yet. She said that even Minister of Higher Education Lakshman Kiriella promised to consider the matter, but she had not yet heard anything him either.