PATNA: Despite scoring above 95% in Class XII examinations, many students from Bihar seeking admission in leading educational institutions in the country are a worried lot because of high cutoff this time.
Those keen to pursue higher education in cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai believe getting admission in reputed institutions would be a tough task this time because of fierce competition. In a pandemic-hit year, several students have secured record-breaking marks across the country. As a result, cutoff has increased to as high as 99.5% in several Delhi University (DU) colleges.
Navya Ojha, a DU aspirant who scored 98.4% in arts stream, said, “The cutoff for economics was 99.5% at St Stephen’s College (SSC). It is expected that Hindu College will have higher cutoff than SSC. Both are elite colleges and I am hopeful of getting admission in one of them. It would be a fierce competition this time as the number of students who have scored above 95% in Class XII is much more than the previous years.”
Saumya, who passed Class XII from Notre Dame Academy by securing 96.8% marks, said she has applied for BCom programme at Shri Ram College of Commerce. “I am eagerly awaiting the cut-off list. As more than 70,000 CBSE students have scored above 95% this time, getting admission in reputed DU colleges has become tougher this time. Let’s hope for the best,” she added.
Arpit Raj, who scored 98% in Class XII, said, “I know the competition is tough for the meritorious students this time as far as securing admission in DU colleges is concerned. I have no other option but to wait for the cutoff list.”
Anjali Thakur, who secured 95.4% in Class XII, said, “Had the exams been held, there would have been a fair assessment of students. I have applied for admission in DU colleges, St Xavier’s College-Kolkata and another college in Mumbai.”
As per a rough estimate, 16,704 students from Bihar have applied for admission in Delhi University colleges against 21,151 in 2020.
Meanwhile, additional chief secretary of state education department Sanjay Kumar is not happy with so many Class XII students getting high marks this time. “In 2021, 99.4% students passed CBSE Class XII exams and 70,000 of them secured above 95% compared to just 17,000 in 2019 and 38,000 in 2020. This northward movement of marks across the country makes standardised testing quite difficult to fathom. It is time to re-examine the exam system (sic),” he tweeted.
