Heads of government schools demand more Class XI seats: institutes can admit 275 candidates in each stream

The council guidelines cite that the institutes can admit 275 candidates in each of the three streams of science, humanities and commerce

Parents with Madhyamik marksheets of their wards at a school in Santipur, Nadia district, on Tuesday. Telegraph picture

Subhasish Chaudhuri   |  TT  |  Calcutta   |    21.07.21: Anticipating greater demand for Class XI seats across Bengal after the “100 per cent success rate” in Madhyamik, heads of government schools have demanded that the West Bengal Higher Secondary Education Council lift the cap on the number of higher secondary students an institution can admit.

Madhyamik results were declared on Tuesday.

Council guidelines cite that schools can admit 275 students in each of the three streams of science, humanities and commerce. But heads of institutions said this year this cap needs to be done away with. If not, many students who cleared Madhyamik won’t be able to study further.

“This year, 100 per cent students have cleared the exam, which is on an average 13.66 per cent more than other years. Schools need to accommodate these students in Class XI with their available infrastructure. We fear that within a few days we will face huge pressure to admit these students. So, existing admission curbs need to be scrapped,” headmaster of Mathurapur Krishnachandrapur High School Chandan Maiti said.

Maiti, also state general secretary of Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses, said they had appealed to the council to consider relaxing the cap on admissions.

“Every year the number of qualifying students goes up but the increase is usually around 1 per cent. When accommodating that 1 per cent is a problem, imagine the predicament this year,” said Santipur Municipality High School headmaster Kinshuk Chakraborty. He added that he was planning to write to the council to seek permission to  admit extra students this year.

“Students deserve the right to admission and pursue their dreams,” Chakraborty said.

Santanu Mandal, headmaster of Dighalgram Netaji School in Nadia’s Haringhata block, said: “Lifting the cap on the number of Class XI seats is needed particularly for the humanities stream to which most students seek admission.”

Several science teachers said most schools did not have laboratory infrastructure to handle extra students.

“The available infrastructure is not enough. Science aspirants will suffer,” said a headmaster in Birbhum.

Teachers in several government and government-sponsored schools said the state government would have to upgrade at least 2,000 Madhyamik schools to Higher Secondary schools to accommodate all students who passed Madhyamik this year. Sources said there are around 18,500 high schools in Bengal of which around 7,000 offer higher secondary courses.

An official of the education department said the demand was logical.

“Normally schools are allowed to admit extra students in case of exigencies. However, it is too early to comment on this now,” he said.