Uninvited CUTOFFS!!!!!!!!

Firstly, the cut-off system is a bit unfair towards the students belonging to state boards. There is a great amount of disparity between the marking pattern of different state boards and the two national boards ie CBSE & ICSE. National board students generally score more than their state board counterparts. The cut-offs are set as per the national board results. This leads to an increase in cut-offs and state board students are left far behind in the race for admission merely because the board they belong to does not breed the tradition of churning out 90 percent-ers.

Secondly,  the cut-offs are usually very high but whenever there is a slight dip in the cut-offs, colleges are overburdened with students as none can be denied admission after having made the final cut. This has an adverse impact on the student-teacher ratio and its ill-effects can be witnessed when teaching is imparted in congested classes amongst hundreds of students.

Thirdly,how does performance of a student in those 3 hours of  board exams define his potential??? Because then a mere health can influence your performance and decide your future!!

Fourthly, the cut-offs create a hierarchy of colleges within the university. While one college becomes an A grader, others are treated as time pass colleges. High cut-offs benefit the image of individual institutions and not the university as a whole. The process of inclusive growth of all colleges is derailed due to cut-offs.

Finally, in several instances the cut-off system does not take into account the aptitude and knowledge of the student in regards to the concerned subject while granting him admission in the due course. For example, a student of science can easily get admission in a course like History or Political Science Hons without even having studied History or Political Science at the +2 level if he clears the desired cut-off. Over here what happens is that a genuine student is robbed of a seat even after possessing more knowledge about the subject which he has studied for at least 2 more years than the one who has been granted admission.

The cut-off system is based on an all-or nothing approach. If the student performs well in his board exams, he gets gold otherwise he is doomed for failure. This system should be replaced by a more comprehensive admission procedure which gives 25% weightage to marks scored in board exams so that students are made to take their boards seriously along-with 50 % and 25% weightage, respectively to marks scored in the entrance exam and personal interview which shall take into account the aptitude of the students. In the end, as per the final merit list, the students should be called for counselling and given the liberty of choosing any college where seats are vacant.