Renowned colleges in Dhaka struggle to fill up seats
HSC?admission
HARUN UR RASHID
Despite having enough seats, many renowned colleges in the capital are not getting sufficient students at the higher secondary level. Many students are alleging that they are not getting admission in colleges of their choice in spite of having good results.
Authorities of many colleges fear that they would not get sufficient students due to the current online application system for the higher secondary level. They said they would face difficulty in running the institutions if they do not get enough students.
Many admission-seekers are looking for top-ranking colleges only, resulting in shortage of students in other colleges. However, Dhaka Education Board sources said the colleges that are not getting sufficient students may go for advertisements to attract students.
Though the Board has published the third merit list, more than one lakh students are yet to get admission in any college.
Dhaka Commerce College sources said they still have 950 vacant seats. The online application system is responsible for the shortage of students in our college this year, said a college official. He added that they have already spoken to the Board authorities in this regard.
Dhaka City College has 650 seats vacant against 1,600 seats in the commerce section. Only 17 admission-seekers got a chance in the commerce group in the third merit list.
Prof. Md. Shahjahan Khan, principal of Dhaka City College, said, We didnt get sufficient students in commerce section this year. Still, there is a chance to get some more students through the final list. Weve to wait till then. He said he has applied to the Board to allocate some more seats for the science section.
Viquarunnisa Noon School and College also has some vacant seats in commerce and humanities sections. Sufia Khatun, principal of the college, said, We still have 50 seats for humanities and 30 seats for commerce sections. All our seats for the science group have been
filled up.
Dhaka Womens College is the worst hit as it has only got around 67 students in the higher secondary level against 300 in science, commerce and humanities sections. The college authorities said they are anxious as the third merit list had been published on Saturday and the admission for this list will continue only till July 14.
Ideal Commerce College is also facing a crisis of students as only 217 out of 500 seats have been filled up so far.
Adamji Cantonment College has around 150 vacant seats in commerce and 50 in humanities sections.
Dr Shahan Ara Begum, principal of Matijheel Ideal School and College, however, said they do not have any seat vacant in science, commerce and humanities sections.
The colleges that did not get sufficient students may still get some more students through the final merit list which will be published on July 23. Admissions will continue till July 26. When asked, Prof. Abu Bakkar Siddique, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, said, The colleges that are not getting students have another chance through the final merit list. Besides, these colleges can advertise to attract students.
According to Dhaka Education Board sources, there are 17 lakh seats for admission to the higher secondary level, while 1,282,618 Secondary
School Certificate (SSC) students have passed their exams this year.
