Kolkata: Over 27,000 fresh applicants applied for undergraduate courses through the centralized admission portal (CAP). In the first phase of admission, the department had identified 60,000 dropout students who did not participate in the first round of admission. In the second round of admission, 9.8 lakh applications were received from 2.2 lakh applicants.
The state higher education department surveyed and found that almost 60,000 students who cleared higher secondary exams did not participate in the admission process.
The department reached out to these students, attracting more than 27,000 students who applied in the second round of admission. “We are quite satisfied that close to 50% of students could be brought back to the higher education system. The reach-out drive could convince even those who decided to drop out after HS,” one official said.
After the first round of admission, department officials reached out to the 7,500 HS schools, and the school heads were asked to reach out to the unwilling students to convince them to continue their studies. Department officials even reached out to the private schools which are affiliated with the CISCE or CBSE.
Several college principals are not very hopeful about filling up seats following the second round of admission.