Confusion on HSC admission

M M Jasim :Many students and guardians fear irregularities in the admission at colleges on higher secondary courses. The process lacks transparency as the students do not know the marks they have achieved in any subject in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations since they are provided with the grade list not the mark sheets, they said. Education board officials said, the students willing to enroll at colleges on higher secondary courses will need to have faith in education boards who will select them based on their marks in the Secondary School Certificate exam to which they have no access. “If any students or guardians question the selection to be done in a fully computerised system, it would be embarrassing for us,” inter-education board coordination sub-committee Chairman Abu Bakar Siddique told The New Nation yesterday. Inspector of colleges of Dhaka Education Board Asfaqus Salehin said, “You have to have faith on education boards for the selection of admission seekers having same grade point average.” Meanwhile, the submission of the admission forms ended on Sunday. It began on June 6. The list of the selected candidates will be published on June 25, and selected students will be allowed to get admission without late fees by June 30, and with late fees by July 26.Clause 3.5 of the admission guideline says that students would be selected based on their GPA. The guideline says that grade points in mathematics or higher mathematics/biology would be considered to make merit list of science students. If the scorers in these subjects were same, grade points of English, Physics and Chemistry, one after another, would be considered. Grades in English, Mathematics and Bangla would be considered for preparing merit list of humanities and business students, if the scores of more than one student become same. Students who want to change the group, grades in English, mathematics and Bangla would be considered, if several students score same. “If preparation of merit list is not possible following the system mentioned, it would be prepared on the basis of marks, following the above mentioned subject order,” said the admission guideline. “People engaged in the process of selecting candidates will have access to information about marks, grade point average, birth year and others of each students in a fully automated system. They would prepare the merit list with care,” said sub-committee Chairman Abu Bakar Siddique. The students will be enrolled at intermediate colleges based on their secondary exam results. Colleges with more than 300 seats are conducting the admission process online. Students not applying online will be allowed to submit forms using SMS service. According to the new admission guidelines, students may name five colleges of their choice in the application online and the education board would decide which of the colleges they would enroll. Allegations have it that a number of colleges, especially those who also offer secondary education, have forced students to name only their college in the application. Dhaka Education Board has warned five colleges — Cambrian, Kings, Metropolitan Winsome and Shamoly Ideal colleges — for advertising admission flouting the admission guidelines.