Quota in college admissions: CISCE chief slams govt over policy, threatens legal action

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During the meeting it was revealed that while the Gujarat government has a common merit list for engineering colleges that is prepared on the basis of the Joint Entrance Examination, it is not the case for medical, science, commerce and arts institutes. It seemed that this was revealed even to the CISCE officials and school principals as till more than half of the presentations were over, the CISCE officials kept claiming that all issues had been resolved with the state government and there would be no discrimination.

After this information was shared by Dr B K Jain, principal of MJ Science Institute and Gujarat University admission co-ordinator for science colleges, in his presentation, all CISCE representatives were shocked and they started opposing the move.

“No discrimination to students of ICSE and ISC would be allowed. No other state except Gujarat has such policies where priority in the form of reserved seats in higher institutes exists for the CBSE and state board while students of our boards are treated as belonging to some other class. Such discriminatory policies of the state government will certainly motivate students to leave ICSE after Class X and shift to either CBSE or the state board,” lamented Dr Immanuel.

While 70%of seats are reserved for the students of Gujarat state board and CBSE, only 30 per cent are open for ISC and other boards in science colleges. Similarly, in medical institutes, only 5% are open for ISC and other boards while 95 per cent are reserved for CBSE and Gujarat board. In commerce colleges, too, 90% is reserved for CBSE and state board and only 10 per cent for ISC and other boards.

“This is a revelation to us too. We have been assured by the state government officials that no discrimination would take place against students of CISCE during the admissions to professional colleges. We would submit a representation to the state government. If the issues are not resolved, we’d be left with the only choice of appealing to the courts,” said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive & secretary, CISCE .

The majority of people feel that the students of CISCE affiliated schools are at a disadvantage when it comes to securing admission in colleges, leading to withdrawal of students after the completion of ICSE (Class X). This was communicated by principals of 36 CISCE-affiliated schools in state during a meeting held prior to this meeting.

“This has been done because the evaluation system of ISC is not at par with CBSE and the Gujarat state board. Also, there is discrepancy in calculation of percentile and ranks,” replied Dr Saurabh Choksi, chairman of the Admission Committee for Commerce, Gujarat University, who was also present during the meeting.

Dr B K Jain, principal of MJ Science Institute and Gujarat University Science admission co-ordinator said, “This year, there is a reservation policy of 70 per cent for students from CBSE and Gujarat state board in Ahmedabad district while 30 per cent for remaining students.”