Jadavpur Vidyapith turns turbulent over lottery admission to Class V

Kolkata: The guardians of Jadavpur Vidyapith students staged a sit-in demonstration on Tuesday, protesting against the admission of students in Class V through lottery system.

A notification issued by the school authorities has triggered confusion among some of the parents, who put up a road block in front of the school on Tuesday morning. The agitation was later lifted after the intervention of senior police officers, who urged the guardians to stop the demonstration.

Earlier, the students studying in the primary or Kishalaya section of the school had been able to take direct admission to Class V. On last Friday, the school authorities had published a notice saying that the lottery system which is applied for selecting students in the Kishalaya section, would also be implemented for the admission of students in Class V.

The publication of the new notification triggered resentment among the guardians who demanded withdrawal of the notification.

Parents of the students in primary section said that their candidates were given admission through a lottery system. They raised questions on the rationality of implementing the same system for the second time for admission of students in Class V.

Parents of some students in Class IV said that there are around 180 seats in class V. "What is the point in introducing a new method when the existing system has been doing well and all the students from the Kishalaya section are getting hassle free admission in Class V?" asked the guardians.

If the new system is introduced, a large number of students who are studying in the primary section of the school would not get an opportunity to study in the secondary level.

Till last year, all the students from Class IV in the Kishalaya section used to get direct admission to Class V. Outside candidates were given an opportunity to get admission in Class V only after all the Class IV students of the school secured admission in the next class. The guardians said that they have talked to the headmasters of both the primary and higher secondary sections, but no assurances were given by the school authorities. After this, many guardians started demonstration inside the school campus from 7 am on Tuesday. Some others later joined the agitation.

Traffic movement was disrupted in the area after the agitating guardians took to the streets. They put up a road block, demanding withdrawal of the new notification.

The school authorities said that the direct transfer of a student from Class IV to V is not possible because Jadavpur Vidyapith is a government-aided school, while the primary section is run by private management.