Himadri Kalita
Cotton University has always been able to retain its glory as one of the noted and esteemed educational institutions in the state. The rank holders and students securing the highest percentage pray to obtain a seat in the institution. The seats used to be fully occupied in the first merit list itself.
However, this year the esteemed educational institution was hit by a rough patch due to the confusion created among several candidates for the admission process while others faced issues with online payment.
After the declaration of the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination results, the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) informed that the students will be able to take admissions for Higher Secondary (HS) only through ‘DARPAN’ portal adding that no offline admissions will be conducted by institutions.
This led to confusion among several students seeking admission into Cotton University as they believed that applying through the DARPAN portal will be enough for the admission process. However, these clueless candidates did not check the notice uploaded on the university’s website that clearly stated, “After applying in DARPAN the candidate must fill up and submit the ONLINE application form of Cotton University through the Higher Secondary tab in the website.”
As a result of this, seats that used to get filled in the first merit list itself now laying vacant making the university upload notices for vacant seats on its website. A total of four lists including two merit lists and two vacancy lists were uploaded on the website. (As of now, all the seats for HS have been occupied)
This made several outsiders wonder if the university is losing its glory as an esteemed and noted educational institution for the notices uploaded on the website.
To this, a source in Cotton University informed, “Several candidates were confused with the admission process. They believed that applying in the DARPAN portal is all they need to do and maybe they did not go through the notice uploaded on our website necessitating the need to fill up the application once they applied in the portal. When the first merit list was uploaded, candidates, who filled up the application on our website, raised concerns as to why their names were not added to the list. This made us aware of the confusion but there was nothing we could do as it was compulsory to apply in both the websites and only those candidates who applied on both were applicable to secure a seat in our educational institution.”
The source further informed about the candidates securing seats being unable to make the payment online.
He said, “As several parts of the state were reeling under adverse flood situations, candidates able to secure a seat were finding it difficult to make the payment owing to network issues. For this reason, the candidates were called to the university with their valid documents. After verification of their documents, the payment link was opened for a few hours for them to make the payment.”
It was the first time that the students had to seek admission through DARPAN portal for which several were left in confusion.
As no other candidates except for the one who applied in both websites were applicable for admission to Cotton University, the seats were unable to be occupied in the first two merit lists itself.
