CBSE scheme to help girls crack Eng entrance tests

Girls in Class XI and Class XII will now have some additional help in cracking the entrance exams to gain admission to premier engineering colleges, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, thanks to a new scheme by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Under the Udaan scheme, 1000 girls will get online tutorial and study material for their preparation for entrance examinations. Fifty per cent of them would be chosen from general category, while the rest will be picked from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and backward classes categories.

“The programme is open for all girl students studying in class XI and XII irrespective of their examination board,” a CBSE official said.

Girls pursuing science stream (Physics, Chemistry and mathematics) who had scored an aggregate of 70 per cent in Class X and 80 per cent in science and mathematics will be eligible to participate in Udaan.  For boards which follow cumulative grade point average (CGPA), a candidate needs to have secured a minimum over all CGPA of 8 and grade point average (GPA) of 9 in Science and Mathematics in order to benefit from the scheme, the official said.

The CBSE has called for applications from the candidates. “They could either log on to the CBSE website or apply by post on or before Oct 27,” the official said. The scheme, launched by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani last month, aims to increase the number of girls in technical institutes which continues to be low.

Preference will be given to those girl students who belong to financially weaker sections where the combined family income should be less than Rs 6 lakh per annum for both general and reserved category candidates, a CBSE official said.

“Based on the performance of the students in the periodic assessment conducted, they will accrue points which will be converted into money. This money will be available to the students once they get selected into a college on the approved list. If a student fails to get admission, the money will be put back into the general pool to assist other students,” the official said.

Once selected, students will have access to an online portal which will have content in the form of videos, tutorials and text. The students will be provided tablets with preloaded content to allow 24x7 learning, the official added.