Chandigarh: Parents swamp schools with application forms on last day

“We started collecting forms around 1 in the afternoon and finished at 5.30 in the evening. There was a huge rush as we received around over 600 forms on the last day itself,” said Gracy Jose, principal of St Annes.

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St Annes’s was followed by Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, which received over 300 applications on the last day, taking the total to 900 for 120 seats. St John’s High School received over 700 applications for 160 seats while Sacred Heart Convent, Sector 26, collected over 600 for 160 seats.

“It’s a norm on the last day, parents tend to panic and end up forgetting some documents or come with incomplete forms. So, keeping that in mind, we had extended the timings to 4 pm, giving them time to complete their forms before final submission. Usually, we start at 9 in the morning but due to the last day, we started at 8.30 am to avoid hassles,” said an admission official of Carmel Convent.

Among the Sikh minority schools, St Kabir School, Sector 26, accepted around 1,480 applications for 90 seats. Vivek High School, Sector 38, another minority school, received over 500 applications for 50 seats.

“Expecting the rush, we had made prior arrangements by setting up extra counters. We started off with a single counter but today we ended up having a total of four counters,” said Gurpreet Bakshi, administrator of St Kabir School.

The Education Department has extended the last date for submitting admission forms to February 28 for economically weaker section (EWS) students. “Earlier, the parents from economically weaker sections were coming in large numbers but after the announcement of extending the date, their number has decreased for the time being. However, parents from other categories were seen thronging the school premises today,” said Reema Dewan, principal of DPS School.

DPS received a total of 879 admission applications for 113 seats and over 100 applications for EWS admission. Bhavan Vidyalaya has received over 1,945 applications for 100 seats, including the EWS quota.

AKSIPS 45 and 41 received over 220 and 180 applications for a total of 160 seats. Saupins School had a holiday on Monday and has extended the last date for submission of applications till December 17. The school got 448 applications for 90 seats till Friday. Strawberry Field School has received over 500 applications, including the EWS quota, for 160 seats.

However, the government schools continued to fare poorly as on the last date, they managed to receive over 600 applications for 5,000 seats in 115 schools.

The final list of candidates in various categories will be uploaded on January 16. The process of conducting draw of lots will be completed till January 23. February 10 will be the last date for deposition of fees. The waiting list of candidates will be uploaded on February 15.