Students in Turmoil Due to ComedK Counselling Delay

The day one of ComedK counseling for Under-Graduate Entrance Test (UGET) held on Tuesday evening, June 28 was interrupted by unseemly events. The delay caused chaos among the students and their parents who were attending the counseling.

Students who had travelled from across India to attend the counseling suffered the most. Although the counseling began at 8.30am, the progress was very slow. The process was supposed to end by 5:45 pm but the management took until late night to conclude the counseling. As a result, outstation students had to get their flight and train tickets cancelled.

NMKRV College for Women, the ComedK counselling centre was to allocate seats to students who had scored a rank between 1 and 3,000 on Day 1. To the committee’s surprise, students with ranks above 3000 also came to appear for the counseling process. This led to confusion in the allocation process making the counseling process progress at a slow pace. The students who were to be allotted seats in the evening had to put up with the delay.

Students had flown in for counseling from far away states like Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Delhi.

One of the students’ parents who came to attend the counselling from Haridwar, Uttarakhand, said that even though their son was scheduled for the seat allocation at 4.30pm, there were no proceedings on the part of the counseling committee even after 6pm. They also said that till 6pm, ComedK authorities could only conduct counselling for 1,000 students and due to the delay they had to cancel their flight that was scheduled at 10.45pm.

The campus became a debate platform as the counseling authorities and parents entered a heated argument. Angry parents blamed the officials for their loss of time and resources. The authorities blamed the software organization that designed the counseling software. This resulted in further delay of the process.

"We are paying so much fees and getting this in return. Can't they conduct a mock process a day before the counselling? This is ridiculous," an angry parent said.

Students like Sabyasachi Behera who resides in Madhya Pradesh were upset because of the loss of money that was caused. The student missed his train scheduled after 7 and questioned the authorities that who is going to reimburse their funds.

The centre lacked basic infrastructural aid that should be provided to all those who come to attend the seat allocation process. Facilities as simple as drinking water, sitting arrangement and shelter were not provided to the attendees.