Call for separate list for Assam board students in UG admissions

GUWAHATI: Amid high cut-offs for undergraduate (UG) admissions in the colleges of Assam this year, state board passouts have raked up a Twitter storm demanding a separate merit list for them.
With comparatively higher marks scored by the applicants from the CBSE, many of whom have dropped their plans to go outside for higher studies at the time of the pandemic, even a 90 per cent score may not be enough for the state board passouts to get admission in some of the top colleges in Guwahati.The CBSE passouts may grab most of the seats in the majority of the leading general degree colleges in the city, where no separate cut-off lists are issued for the applicants from the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) and other boards including the CBSE.
“Sir, at the present time the condition of the AHSEC students (has) become so bad that some of us even not able to take admission in a good college of assam with 90%.We wish you take proper step in this matter soon,” tweeted one Sagar Gowala, seeking attention of state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The concerns and anguish of the Assam state board passouts were expressed through hashtags #SeparatemeritlistforAHSEC and #AHSECstudentsMatters.
Another student, Neina Baruah tweeted, “This is a sincere request from the AHSEC students. We need separate merit list. Even the small colleges are putting high cutoff that the AHSEC students could not think of grabbing a seat there.”
One Trishna Saikia went on demanding a separate marking system for AHSEC students. She joined the hashtag campaign seeking, “ ...Justice for the students of AHSEC board...” Echoing her, one Salma Siddiquee wrote on Twitter, “Differences in marking system has led to this current situation. Where will the AHSEC students go?”
Sources in the state education department told TOI that the seat crisis for the UG courses is likely to hit the AHSEC passouts, mainly in the colleges of Guwahati where there are a large number of CBSE schools.
In B Borooah College, one of the leading city colleges affiliated to Gauhati University, the occupancy of UG seats till last year was almost in the ratio 50:50 for the students from CBSE and AHSEC passouts.
But this year, the ratio may finally end up at 75:25, with CBSE passouts grabbing much more seats with their higher scores. “Comparatively, it has been witnessed in our college this year that a large number of applicants who have scored over 85 percent marks are from the CBSE,” B Borooah College principal SN Barman said.