KARACHI, Sept 9 A record number of claim forms are likely to be filed for college admissions this year, because the centralised admission committee has failed to note down the complete details given earlier by the students in their placement forms, Dawn has learnt.

The admission committee obtained the duly filled-in placement forms from designated bank branches and forwarded them to the Board of Secondary Education Karachi without recording the information provided therein, sources privy to the admission committee said.

Senior professors, who formerly were associated with the process of admissions to first-year classes under the centralised admission policy (CAP), said that the committee, in this situation, would have to completely rely on the merit list to be issued by the BSEK.

“Previously, the CAP committee used to send the placement forms to the BSEK after jotting down all the details from the forms such as choice of colleges mentioned by candidates, but no such record is available with the CAP committee now,” the professors said, adding that a large number of candidates are expected to throng the claim centres to be set up in all 18 towns of the city. The claim centres are set up to address the complaints of applicants by correcting the errors that usually crop up during the admission process.

Some senior teachers of government colleges, who termed the move 'a deliberate act', alleged that the committee's failure to record full details would help undeserving students of influential families with political connections get admissions to reputable colleges.

Meanwhile, central president of the Sindh Professors' and Lecturers' Association Prof Ather Hussain Mirza has requested Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq to direct the provincial director-general (colleges) that any student, who failed to get admission on a merit basis in a college, must not be permitted to attend classes in that college. He said that such permissions not only negated the spirit of merit but also became a source of discontent among meritorious students.

DIT result

The Sindh Board of Technical Education has announced the results of Diploma of Information Technology (DIT) second semester examination 2008, PPI adds.

According to the statistics, a total of 1,831 candidates appeared in the examination and 1,526 of them passed it. The pass percentage stood at 83.34.

The board also announced that the first year Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE) annual examination will commence on October 6.