Chandigarh’s government senior secondary schools are bracing for an intense admission season as they have received 15,698 complete applications for only 13,875 available seats across various streams. The competition has intensified this year, with an excess of 1,823 applicants over the available slots.
According to data released by the UT Education Department, a majority of the applications, 9,884 to be exact, came from students who completed their Class X in local government schools. These students are eligible under the 85% quota reserved for them. Meanwhile, the remaining 15% of seats, aimed at accommodating private school passouts from both Chandigarh and other states, have also seen a significant demand with 5,814 applications.
The department has also revealed that 310 applications were deemed incomplete and thus not considered in the admission process.
Complicating matters for some families is the delay in the refund of the admission fee from last year’s counselling process. A number of parents are still awaiting refunds for fees paid during the unsuccessful admission bids of their children. Department officials assure that the process is ongoing, with efforts being made to verify details and expedite refunds.
“For the students approaching the DEO Office, we are ensuring that their schools verify their details promptly, and we are sending out reminders to facilitate the refunds,” an official stated.
The admission process this year includes the release of two merit lists, with provisions to shift unfilled seats under reserved categories to the general category to ensure all seats are filled. A provisional list of allocated school and stream placements will be displayed on June 12, with a subsequent period until June 13 for submitting objections or online grievances. The final placements will be announced on June 21 after all objections have been addressed, and document verification is scheduled from June 26 to 29. Classes are set to commence on July 1.
This year marks the second implementation of the bifurcated seat allocation policy, which was introduced to better protect the interests of local government school students. Previously, a common merit list for all students—regardless of their school type or location—was used.
Chandigarh boasts 42 government senior secondary schools, offering a range of streams including 18 in science (non-medical), 17 in science (medical), 23 in commerce, 39 in humanities, and 23 in skilled courses. This diverse offering aims to cater to the varied academic interests and career aspirations of students across the union territory.
