Not enough information given, complain CATE aspirants

New Delhi: The helplines that had been set up in colleges that will be
participating in the Combined Aptitude Test in English (CATE) for
helping students clarify their queries have been ringing continuously.

The CATE is conducted for admission to the much coveted B.A. English
(Honors) course at the Delhi University (DU).

The most number of complaints from students have been regarding the
lack of information about the application procedure for the test.

Sanam Khanna, a professor for English at the Kamala Nehru College said
that several students and parents who have called them don't know that
the admission procedure for CATE has already begun.

"Many parents and students think that the admission procedure for CATE
will begin on June 15," she said. Around 2500 students had applied for
CATE by Monday.

The number of students who had applied had increased after the Central
Board of Secondary Education (Class 12) results had been declared on
Monday. More than 1500 applications were submitted on Tuesday.

The English department of DU has now decided to extend the last date
of submission of application forms for CATE to May 28. Earlier, the
last date was May 26.

Sumanyu Satpathy, head of the English department at DU said that the
rush at many centres for submitting the CATE applications was too much
to handle, which resulted in the department extending the last date
for submission.

This year, the department is expecting around 12000 applications being
submitted for CATE but the number may reduce. This is being speculated
as there was a lack of proper information regarding CATE and its
application procedure.

Several students are not happy and are blaming DU for not providing
enough information regarding the test. Students have complained that
the information regarding CATE is given in a small corner of the DU
official website.

A student who just passed out of Class 12 expressed her agitation,
alleging that she was not aware that the admission procedure was going
on due to the lack of information.

The CATE is scheduled to be conducted on June 5. Students can acquire
the application form from all colleges that are participating in CATE
against a demand draft of Rs.300.