Students seeking college transfer at their wits' end

Students and their parents have been shuttling back-and-forth between the colleges and the department, but without getting any relief.

The reason: On the one hand, the department insists that the transfers would be done by the respective institutions and on the other, the college authorities are blissfully unaware of the new regulations, insisting on more information from the department.

After its initial reluctance to permit students from migrating, the PU department recently issued a circular, saying students would be allowed to seek transfers .

Over the past week or so, hundreds of students have been seeking transfer on grounds of their parents’ transfer, health-related issues and difficulty in commuting.

A number of these students have been asked by their respective colleges to seek transfer due to poor attendance records, while some others applied for starting afresh.

A good number of students were asked by their college principals to approach the department either to obtain a letter or get details such as their PU student numbers.

A visit to some of the colleges and the department revealed that instead of orderly procedure, chaos prevailed. Students and parents who queued up at the department were given confusing responses by officials who were not quite sure about the procedure.

An official who Deccan Herald approached, contradicted himself twice within a short span of time, after initially stating that the transfers issue was to be handled by the colleges.

He later said: “We have to despatch the students numbers to the PU colleges and it will be done in the next few days after which the colleges can issue transfer certificates.”

Surprisingly, the official retracted yet again, saying that the student numbers were not necessary at all for the issuance of TCs. The department authorities’ apathy has only contributed to the woes of the students. Meena P, who completed her first PUC from Chikmagalur Government PU College sought a transfer from that institution to one in Bangalore following her marriage this summer.

She was sent to the department by her college principal on the ground that in order to obtain a TC she would first have to procure her student number. Meena, who came all the way from Chikmagalur, was informed by department officials that they had nothing to do with the transfer issue and that her college would have to take the due steps.

“I am now told that my college will have to arrange for the transfer,” said Meena. She then spoke to her principal who insisted that the PU student number was a strict requirement.

Raghavendra, of Yediyur PU College, who discontinued his studies after the first PUC and now wants to start again went to get a letter, was also asked to return and inform his principal that the department had nothing to do with the matter.

Pre-University Education Department Commissioner S G Hegde said: “The colleges should already have the student numbers with them. Otherwise I am not aware of any confusion over the procedure involved in transfers.” Rajagopal, representing a friend in seeking a transfer, did not have kind words for the department. “My friend’s son wants transfer from Moodbidri PU college to Chikballapur and he has been sent back and forth. It is so confusing and nobody knows what the procedure is.”

Meanwhile, complaints about the status of revaluation applications and photocopies of
marks cards continue to pour in. Several students who had applied for photocopies had not received some of the subjects and others had not received the papers at all. Officials at the department cryptically said “a problem” while dispatching them caused the delay.