Bangalore: PU exams to begin on March 13

Bangalore, 26 Feb 2013 (DHNS): This year’s PU second year examinations will be held from March 13 to March 28.

 

SSLC examinations will begin on April 1 and end on April 10, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri told reporters here on Monday.

 

About 6.13 lakh students are expected to appear for the PU second year examinations.

 

 There are an estimated 8.49 lakh candidates for the SSLC examinations. The department will soon send a timetable for the examinations to all school managements, Kageri added.

 

Meanwhile, admissions to professional courses this year will be completed by July 22, said Higher Education Minister C T Ravi. There was a delay in admissions to professional courses last year. This time it will be ensured that the admissions are on time.

 

Private colleges will be directed to refund the extra fee collected from students last year. The department has set up a one-man committee to look into exorbitant fees charged by private managements offering professional courses.

 

The committee found that up to Rs 65,000 as extra fees had been collected by several colleges for sports, gym, IT and other facilities.

 

Finding this unreasonable, the department has asked all the colleges to reimburse to students any extra fee collected. The Higher Education Department will ensure that the extra fee is returned to the students before the beginning of the next academic year, Ravi said.

 

A uniform fee structure for all the extra facilities provided by colleges will also be evolved soon, Higher Education Principal Secretary Rajneesh Goel said. The Department of Higher Education, which has set up a five-member committee to look into irregularities in admissions to minority educational institutions, will submit its report by March 31, Ravi said.

 

A five-member panel will study the admissions to minority educational institutions. As per rules, minority institutions have to reserve at least 60 per cent of students from these communities. This rule has been regularly flouted. Consequently, students from the economically challenged section of  the minority communities fail to secure admissions.

 

The committee is expected to submit its report by March 31.