Only 32% qualify for meritorious schools

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 30

Despite a marked improvement in this year’s Class X board results, only 32 per cent of government school students qualified for admission to 10 meritorious schools in the state.

Students who scored 70 per cent marks in Class X were eligible for the entrance test for admission to Class XI in these schools. Of the total 14,909 students who had appeared for the entrance tests — on April 21 and May 5 — only 4,841 were able to crack it, the results of which were declared on May 13.

Teachers have already termed it a dismal performance, which is a cause of worry for the Education Department. Notably, there was a huge leap in the pass percentage of Class X from 59 to 88.21.

The meritorious schools, a pet project of the previous SAD government, were launched in 2013 to cater to the poor students, who are good in academics. The purpose of these schools was to impart quality education to meritorious students, who score 80 per cent and above in Class X.

Dip in enrolment

The 10 schools — run by the Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students under the school Education Department — are located in Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala and Sangrur.

However, these schools are said to be grappling with a shortage of teachers, dip in enrolment and frequent policy shifts. In 2017, 954 seats were left vacant, while there were no takers for 792 seats after the first round of counselling in 2018. Teachers said over the years, the schools were witnessing a drop in enrolment.

Meanwhile, Ritu Sharma, principal, Meritorious School, Mohali, said: “The first round of counselling is going on so we can’t comment on the number of students who have been selected so far, but there is a huge rush.”

Cut-off slashed by 10%

Like previous year, the eligibility criterion for admission to meritorious schools has been revised this time too. The cut-off for this year was set at 70%, which was 80% earlier. The move to slash the cut-off by 10% came after the seats were left vacant last year. The percentage was lowered to 55 for general and 45 for reserved category last year.

62% seats reserved for girls

Of the total 4,600 seats in 10 meritorious schools in the state, 62% are reserved for girls. As many as 2,875 seats are for girls while the rest 1,725 are for boys. Stream-wise, 2,735 seats are for non-medical students, 935 for medical and 930 for commerce. The meritorious school in Talwara has the maximum seats (100) for girl students.