It looks like girls who have just passed their class 10 exams will have a tougher time gaining admission in Pre-University colleges than boys since they have a higher cut-off percentage. For example, Christ College's PU admits girls with marks higher than 93.2 per cent for the science stream while boys' cut-off marks are 91.04 per cent.
Explaining the 'discrimination' between the two, Father Abraham, the vice-chancellor of the university, told The Times of India, "Girls are smart, and this is not a new trend. If there is no higher cut-off, the college will have only girls. The higher cut-off is to bring in gender balance."
However, this puts girls in a disadvantage since it will be easier for boys to get admission in colleges and there is no declaration on the assigned seats for boys and girls. Hence, by giving boys an advantage, there might still be a gender imbalance between the two genders, with more boys than girls.
To make sure that their daughters secure a seat, parents are scrambling to buy a seat through various quotas. Nalini, whose daughter applied to MES in Bengaluru, told TOI, "We've applied under the ex-servicemen quota. Besides, my father was an alumnus of the college." Nalini's daughter Meghna applied for the science stream in the college. She has also applied to Mount Carmel.
While Mount Carmel is an all-girls college, they still have a quota system in place. For the PCMB course (physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology) 88 per cent cut-off for the general category, 85 per cent cut-off for the Scheduled Caste community and other minority communities and 83 per cent for other categories.
Giving a breather for many students and parents alike, St Joseph's, which is one of the leading colleges in the city, does not have separate cut-offs for boys and girls.
In addition to this, leading colleges have categorically raised the bar for both boys and girls. Those who have scored less than 90 per cent will find it more difficult to find admission than those with 90 per cent and above.
Christ College has an average of 95 per cent cut-off across all streams and course while MES PU College of Art, Commerce and Science has a cut-off at 93 per cent.
