Common admission portal total failure, says aided colleges’ body

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 3

A meeting of the executive committee of the Non-Government Aided Colleges Management Federation (NGACMF) was held today at Swami Ganga Giri Janta Girls College, Raikot, in Ludhiana district.

It was unanimously declared that the common admission portal, started by the state government to regulate admissions in all colleges of Punjab last year, has miserably failed to serve any purpose, federation member said.

The meeting, chaired by federation president Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, was of the view that the portal led to a drastic fall in admissions in all aided and self-financed colleges. He said the admissions through the portal led to the harassment of the colleges in particular and students in general. Private universities in the state had benefited immensely as they were not brought under the common admission portal and took full advantage of the situation to secure their own admissions.

After the meeting, Chhina said the regulation of admissions in the colleges was a prerogative of affiliating universities and not the government.

“Our earlier stand that the portal is full of flaws has been vindicated as the admissions in all 142 aided colleges drastically fell last year, which hit the institutions of higher learning financially and administratively,” said Chhina.

Federation’s senior vice-president Ramesh Kumar Kaura, former GNDU VC Dr SP Singh, general secretary SM Sharma, Ravinder Joshi and others stated in unison that government officials, especially the Secretary of Higher Education, made various commitments during their meetings while implementing the portal, but they failed to fulfil any commitment.

The federation, meanwhile, endorsed the stand of Panjab University with respect to its exclusive right to regulate the admission process and extends full support to Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women in its move to challenge the portal.

Dr SP Singh said the centralised admission portal had been detrimental to the interests of the colleges and serves the interests of private universities. The executive members said earlier, agitations were held by the federation and the government duly assured it that their grievances regarding various issues confronting the colleges would be addressed. However, the state government arbitrarily imposed the portal on the colleges without considering merits and consequences and backtracked from their promises to resolve various grievances, they said.

Kaura and SM Sharma said officials of the Department of Higher Education and the DPI had been working against the interests of the colleges. Discussions were also held on the issue of non-receipt of grants, full implementation of the Grant-in-Aid scheme, and other important matters pending with the state government regarding higher education. Filling of vacant posts, clearing of SC scholarships and reviving the old scheme of 95 per cent Grant-in-Aid for all teachers were also discussed.

Another member Rajiv Jain said: “In 2023, the government had promised that all universities, private or government, will be included under the admission portal but the government has failed to bring the private universities under the portal. We demand that all government universities as well as private universities should be brought under the portal to provide equal opportunities to all educational institutions and no undue opportunity should be given to private universities.”

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