Bengal colleges face a new challenge: to make up for exceptional delay in admission process this year

After being extended several times, the deadline for submitting applications on the centralised portal for undergraduate courses in colleges run and aided by the West Bengal government finally came to an end on Wednesday (July 30, 2025) — nearly three months after the declaration of Higher Secondary results.

With admissions going to begin only now, it is unlikely that classes will begin in these colleges before the beginning of September, and now the challenge for these institutions will be to make up for lost time. The delay, which had no official explanation, is largely attributed to West Bengal’s new OBC list being caught in a legal tangle, with the Supreme Court ruling in the State’s favour only two days ago. Several professors also included an additional reason for the delay: seats not filling up as quickly as before because of many students opting for higher studies in other States and cities.

Whatever the reason, with the application process itself coming to an end now, the first round of admissions will now begin, followed by second and third rounds, during which time students may want to change the institutions they had been allotted at the beginning. Usually, the bulk of this process is completed within the first one month after the declaration of Class 12 results.

“We have to remember that this delay is affecting public institutions in Bengal. Private institutions in other States are following a more structured and a timely semester pattern. Making up for lost time is impossible. I envision a mad scramble for completing syllabi, without focussing on how much students actually learn. I assume the delay was due to the OBC reservations, which is a pity because this delay affects the marginalised students the most! We have already read reports of how students are choosing to become migrant workers in the face of academic and financial uncertainty, and this delay has only pushed them further away,” said Samata Biswas, a professor at the Sanskrit College and University.

Ayantika Ghosh, principal of Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya, prefers a positive approach. According to her, it was anticipated that legal intricacies would delay the admission process and that as an academician and the head of a college, she will have to look for methods to mitigate the effect of this unwanted delay.  “The need of the day is to ensure that teaching-learning is least affected. It is unfortunate that the stipulated teaching hours of six months for each semester has hardly been given, and it has been reduced to almost three months, owing to an erratic schedule consisting of more hours dedicated to evaluative paraphernalia than teaching/lectures,” Dr. Ghosh said.

According to her, the official date of commencement of the new session remains unchanged at August 1, though if things stabilise and go on smoothly hereafter, it is likely that the new session can “smoothly commence” by August 30.

“There are still methods to cope up with the delay. Hybrid mode of teaching will obviously enhance the scope of getting more teaching-learning hours, and online classes are easy methods added to regular teaching hours that can lessen the loss. What is required primarily is an academic calendar from the affiliating university, in our case the University of Calcutta, with clear allocation of teaching plan and fixed exam schedule. That will minimise confusion and standardise a uniform teaching-schedule,” said Dr. Ghosh.

New Alipore College principal Jaydeep Sarangi said: “We are going to put in extra efforts from our end, like holding extra classes, uploading material through LMS, and conducting online to overcome this delay.”