The University of Kerala courted controversy when a spot allotment process held to conduct admissions for undergraduate courses on Thursday resulted in a blatant violation of the COVID-19 protocol.
Going by rough estimates, around 2,000 people, including students and guardians, thronged the Senate Hall of the university headquarters and other parts of the Palayam campus during the spot admissions to the General category seats of BA, BCom and BSc courses in colleges in Thiruvananthapuram district. Several aspirants, some even from Kollam, turned up for the process as early as 8 a.m.
Amid lack of measures to streamline crowds, the attendees jostled each other as they rushed to find seats in the hall as they flouted physical distancing norms. While the venue could barely accommodate 1,500 people, extra chairs were brought in for those who had to stand long hours in the sun outside the hall.
In a bid to decongest the area, the university authorities deferred the spot allotment process for BSc courses to the afternoon. However, almost all of those who had come from faraway places chose to stick around.
With the situation threatening to go out of hand, the university authorities abruptly brought the process to a halt by noon.
The aspirants who managed to obtain allotments by then were provided assurances that their admissions remained intact. Vice Chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai later issued directions to conduct the spot allotments in more number of centres to adhere to the COVID-19 norms.
Decision rued
Many students rued the university’s decision to conduct spot admissions to affiliated colleges in a centralised manner this year.
On the basis of the online admission monitoring committee, the university had decided to replace the previous practice of permitting colleges to conduct admissions following allegations of certain institutions scuttling priority for higher-ranked students during the admission process. This year, the university decided to conduct spot admissions in each of the four districts that came under the jurisdiction of the university.
