Merit list revised at eleventh hour; 20 students sent back

More than 20 students of non-medical and medical streams were asked to return home as their names did not figure in the merit list at the Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students here on Monday.

Students enquiring about admission at the Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students in Ludhiana on Monday.

A total of 260 girls across the state were not able to find their names in the merit list, thanks to the revised merit list on the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) website on Saturday evening, which revised the cut-off for non-medical stream to 80.46% and 81.69% for medical stream.

Charan Kaur, parent of a student whose name was not in the list, said, “I am working in a school as a helper and earning a meagre Rs 3,000 monthly. Today when I reached to drop my daughter, we were not able to find her name in the list.”

She added that they were informed that the merit list was revised and therefore her daughter was not eligible. “My daughter scored 80.77 percent in Class 10 but her name was not the list. This is disappointing,” she added.

Neeshu Rani from Moga said, “My parents have spent Rs 1,500 to buy essentials and now my name is not in the list. My mother is the only earning member in my family.”

Out of 258 students, 198 students reported at the residential school for non-medical.

Talking to HT, district education officer, secondary, (DEO) Paramjit Kaur Chahal, said, “Classes started on Monday and students whose names are in the merit list and somehow were not able to reach the school can come for admission on Tuesday.”

A total of 81 students from other districts, including Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Patiala, have been given admission at the city’s residential school. It is worth mentioning that there are residential schools in all these four districts but due to no more vacant seats for girls, they were shifted to city’s residential school.