A pet project of the previous Akali government, senior secondary residential schools for meritorious students — aimed to impart quality education to weaker sections — will charge Rs 200 as registration fee from young aspirants seeking admission to Class 11.
The admission will take place through a common entrance test in all 22 districts on June 25.
This is for the first time the Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students has asked the students to pay Rs 200 to be able to register online. After carrying out admissions without any test for the first two years (2014-15 and 2015-16), the authorities conducting a test for the first time last year, but no fee was charged.
The meritorious schools project director, Maj Gen KAS Bhullar (retd), has issued a letter to all district education officers (DEOs, secondary) that carries details about the admission process, including the new provision of registration fee.
On being contacted by HT, the project director said: “The Punjab School Education Board has to pay for paper printing, conduct of the exam and collection and correction of papers. This is the reason, a nominal fee of ₹200 will be charged from the students for the entrance exam.”
There are 10,378 students of government, Dashmesh and Adarsh schools in the state who have scored 80% or above in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class-10 examinations this year and are eligible for 4,650 seats at the nine meritorious schools.
These schools provide free education and accommodation to the students, while preparing them for entrance examinations of prestigious institutes of engineering, management, law, and medicine within and outside the state.
In the recently declared PSEB Class-12 results, the meritorious schools recorded a pass percentage of 98.3% as compared to 62.4% recorded statewide.
No info on SSA website
Even as the online registration for admission to the meritorious schools is set to begin tomorrow, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) website is yet to upload the details of the test. Sushil Kumar, a parent, said: “My daughter has scored 88% in Class 10 and wants to take admission in the Ludhiana meritorious school. I have been checking the SSA website for the past one week, but can’t find any information regarding registration for the test.”
REGISTRATION BEGINS TODAY
First session of the residential schools for meritorious students began in 2014. Till now, two batches have completed Class 12.
Schools: Nine (Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar, Patiala, Hakumat Singh Wala village in Ferozepur, Ghabdhan village in Sangrur district and Talwara in Hoshiarpur)
Classes: 11 and 12 (applications sought only for Class 11)
Benefit: Education and accommodation is free; students are prepared for entrance examinations of prestigious institutes of engineering, management, law, and medicine within and outside the state
Seats: 4,650 (150 at Hoshiarpur school offering humanities; 500 each in other eight schools offering medical, non-medical and commerce)
Who can apply: Students from the state’s government schools, besides those from Adarsh and Dashmesh schools
Eligibility: Above 80% score in Class 10
Online registration: 9am onwards, June 6
Deadline: 5pm, June 20
Fee: Rs 200
Where to apply: www.ssapunjab.org
Helpline No.: 0172-5212318, 5212332 (9am-5pm)
About the test
Common entrance test: June 25
Question paper: Bilingual (English and Punjabi)
Subjects: English, mathematics and science for all streams
Total marks: 150 (50 marks each subject)
Qualifying marks: At least 33% in each subject, overall 50%
[“source-hindustantimes”]
