Rohtak Girl Who Topped PGIMER Chandigarh Entrance Denied Admission As She Awaits Final Semester Exams

Rohtak: Monika Bazzad, a final year student of Bachelor of Science at Gargi College under Delhi University was on the top of the world after securing 1st rank in the entrance exam for Bio-Technology (Medical) held by PGIMER Chandigarh. The PGIMER Chandigarh has not considered her for a counseling session for Bio-Tech course to be held on July 22 as she does not have her graduate degree mark sheets. The Delhi University had postponed its open book examination from July to August due to the grim situation of COVID-19 in the national capital after receiving UGC guidelines.

The dream of higher education from a prestigious institution like PGIMER Chandigarh has dashed for Monika who hails from a small village in Haryana's Rohtak district. "Where am I at fault?", asks Monika after adding that she was the school topper in class 10th & 12th and maintained an impressive record of 8.2 CGPA in her five semesters at Delhi University. She said that she appeared for Biotech entrance exam on June 22 and the result of which was announced by PGIMER Chandigarh on July 11 in which she was declared topper (rank 1) in OBC category.

There are a total of 12 seats in Biotech. The counselling of which is to be held on July 22 at the premier institute but she has not been called to participate in it. "I enquired from the admission committee in PGIMER about not calling me.

They told me that she has not provided them with a mark sheet for the 6th semester. I informed them that exams of last semester have not been conducted by DU so far but they refused to listen and said that they can't bend rules for me", added Monika.

Monika said that she offered to give them undertaking if she fails to provide them with a mark sheet of 6th semester after the examination result in September due to any reason, the institute is free to cancel her admission but to no avail.

The Issue:

The Delhi University was to conduct its UG/PG examination from the beginning of July month but it postponed its exam to August, 2020. "It is hereby notified for information to all concerned that the Open Book Examination (OBE) for all streams of Final year/Semester/Term of Undergraduate and postgraduate students including SOL (School of Open Learning) and Non Collegiate Women's Education Board (NCWEB) scheduled to be held from 10th July, 2020 is postponed. The OBE will now start after 15th August, 2020", the notice reads.

Notably, several key educational institutions like IITs have found a way of giving provisional admissions to the successful candidates in the entrance examinations to start the course by relaxing their norms for a certain period of time.

The successful candidates are called in to the counseling session for the admission process where they are required to produce their educational documents. Delhi remained a hotspot of COVID-19 situation and it has impacted the schedule of examination which otherwise would have finished by now and students would be donning their mark sheets/degree by now.

PGIMER Version:

On being told about the Monika's case to the PGIMER Chandigarh institute, the official said that the entrance exam is conducted whosoever applies for the different courses and after the result is announced the process of scrutiny comes into action. All the norms are clearly mentioned in the prospectus of the institution and the admission process is being done in sync with that only.

"We completely understand the genuineness of Monika's case that she secured 1st rank in the entrance exam and delay in the final semester of UG degree course by the Delhi University is beyond her control. But we are in an unprecedented situation and there are some other cases in different courses who face the same problem", they added. The issue was in the agenda of the institution meeting and discussed elaborately and a decision was taken to go with the norms of the prospectus, they added.

Educationist View:

Expressing shock on the PGIMER Chandigarh administration decision, eminent academician and former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Bhim S Dahiya told The Logical Indian that lack of coordination between two different top educational institutions is ruining the bright future of a student.

"After all, how is a student responsible for delay in the exams? COVID-19 is a global situation and it should be factored in all the decision-making process post-corona period. The student should be given ample time to provide her degree and she has remained a meritorious student and also 1st rank holder in the entrance exam conducted by PGIMER Chandigarh", Dahiya added.

He also added that the educational institutions should opt for providing provisional admission criteria for students like Monika in order to prevent the loss of a bright student from their institution.