After the phenomenal number of centums and high scores secured by students in the SSLC class X examinations, there is now a scramble for class XI seats in State-board schools.
And, the high scores, which have resulted in schools raising the bar considerably, have only added to many students’ woes.
While some schools allotted preferred streams to their students even before the class X results were announced, others are in the process of admitting students now.
S. Geetha, whose daughter scored 391/500 marks in the SSLC examination, is going to switch schools because they have shifted their house. But she is running from one school to another to get her daughter a seat in the first group (physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology).
“We have applied to at least four schools but nobody is willing to offer the science group,” she said.
This year, as many as nine students shared the official first rank (awarded to those with Tamil as first language) with a score of 498/500 marks, and two students with Sanskrit as first language scored 499/500 marks.
The number of centums too, shot up sky high, with 29,905 students scoring cent per cent in mathematics, 38,154 in science, 19,680 in social science and 17 in English.
The shower of marks, ranks and centums, has put schools too in a fix. Vaidehi Krishnan, principal, GRT Mahalakshmi Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School, which has produced State rankers this year, said the high scores had posed a challenge for schools.
“We are looking at students’ quarterly and half-yearly marks as well to assess their level of understanding,” she said, adding that students of the school, however, will not be denied a seat. For the 200 seats in the school, she said they had received close to 750 applications.
It is not the number of applications, but the marks students have scored, that has P. Vishnucharan, correspondent, Shree Niketan Matriculation School, worried.
In his school, 79 of the 98 students scored 90 per cent and above.
“When you have a limited number of seats, and scores that are this high, you are sometimes forced to say no to a student who has scored as high as 90 per cent,” said Mr. Vishnucharan.
The benchmark set by the SSLC results has also posed a challenge for CBSE students seeking admission in State-board schools. And, their number is on the rise.
As compared to 1,74,965 students who appeared for the CBSE class X examination in 2013, only 77,616 appeared for the CBSE class XII examination in Chennai region which comprises six States and four Union Territories.
While some schools such as Shree Niketan completed admissions for CBSE students ahead of State-board candidates, as their results came earlier, in many other schools, CBSE students are competing with State-board scores.
Those such as P. Radha (name changed on request) may have to make a compromise. A CBSE student who scored a CGPA of 7.6, she has been running around for the Physics-Chemistry-Mathematics-Computer Science group.
“The CBSE school where I wrote my class X has offered me only the commerce stream. Competing with State-board students, especially this year, is really tough,” she said.
The problem extends to CBSE students switching to other CBSE schools as well. Veera, who got a CGPA of 7.5, applied to five CBSE schools in the city for a seat in the science group. “They are all looking for a CGPA of 9 and upwards,” he said.
