SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, March 22: Several students have been waiting to get admissions in B. Ed (Bachelor of Education) in Ranchi University and other colleges of the city for the past five months. Notably, the admission process for the same for session 2021-2023 for a total of 13,500 seats of Jharkhand began in the month of September with invitation of applications after which, the counseling sessions began in October.
Notably, for admissions in B. Ed, the Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECEB) invites applications from students all over the state. A merit list is prepared by the JCECEB, after which applicants are allotted seats in different colleges through counseling sessions as per their CML (Combined Merit List) ranks and marks. In the first counseling, if a student is not selected by any college or does not fulfill their criteria, they have to wait for the next counseling session which may take up to a month.
However, for the past several years, up to five counseling sessions are organized within the span of five to six months wherein students take admission in colleges after the first counseling as well as the fifth counseling. Even though these students are part of the same batch, they have varied timelines as far as admissions are concerned. This results in creating a backlog for comparatively newer students and creates pressure on both educators and students to cope up with the backlog for upcoming exams that are conducted as per schedule.
Talking of the same, a JCECEB official Om Prakash said, “We have conducted the fourth counseling right before Holi and are hoping that a fifth counseling will not be needed.”
About the number of remaining seats presently in the state, the official said, “It is too soon to tell an exact number as the counting was delayed due to Holi vacations, however, I believe it will be around 2000, although it is not an exact number.”
When enquired about the number of empty seats after the third counseling, he said, “It was around 4000 then.”
Deputy Director Hemendra Bhagat of the Department of Higher Education in state said, “I have recently been handed over this responsibility and believe it is due to Covid that such delays have occurred. I know of the delay in admissions till now, but we hope to make amendments regarding this for the next session.”
When informed of the delay that happened even before Covid, and if the department has a plan to help students cope up, the Deputy Director said, “We don’t have a plan for the moment, but we are hoping that such a delay is avoided in the next session. We will try to take admissions through exams, which will help us shorten the now long procedure of admissions.”
