Deadline extended in Calcutta University colleges to fill vacant seats: Partha Charterjee

The last date of admission has been extended in some Calcutta University-affiliated colleges to fill up the vacant seats, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said on Tuesday.

Talking to media persons, Chatterjee said the deadline was extended from July 10 to August 20 to accommodate as many students as possible in these colleges.

“Wherever there are vacant seats, be it in pass or degree courses, the admission process will continue in till August 20,” he said.

To a question about the number of seats lying vacant in the CU-affiliated colleges in the city and its neighbourhood, the minister said, “I won’t comment on figures, just based on media reports. But there are enough seats for students. Hence, we took the decision to extend the admission deadline,” he said.

In the past, too, Chatterjee had said students should not crowd a few educational institutions for admission.

Asked about his response to the reintroduction of admission tests in Jadavpur University, Chatterjee said, “It (JU) is an autonomous institution. The government won’t interfere in its functioning.”

The JU had recently witnessed a hunger strike by students in protest against the decision of the authorities to scrap admission test in six subjects. The university, after holding its ground for almost a week, buckled under the pressure of students and reintroduced entrance tests.

The entrance tests in the six arts subjects will be conducted in the last week of July.