The growing number of high-scoring students in the Madhyamik examinations and a shrinking number of top schools offering the Higher Secondary (HS) course has resulted in a seat scramble.

Two days after the Madhyamik 2005 results were announced, reputed city schools are feeling the pressure from students seeking admission to Class XI.

The seat crunch has been aggravated this year with at least two top girls? schools ? Loreto House and Modern High ? switching from the state board to the ISC course run by the Delhi-based Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations.

St Xavier?s Collegiate School has also switched over to the national board recently. Bhawanipur Education Society College discontinued its HS course after a directive was passed that no college should have an HS unit.

On the demand side, pressure is increasing, with a larger number of students scoring more marks in Madhyamik.

Over the past few years, the city has seen at least 100 new private English-medium schools come up with Plus II courses, but most of them are affiliated to either the ISC council or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The bottleneck is forcing schools to turn away meritorious students.

?The demand for seats in our HS course is definitely higher this year, compared with previous years. We are sorry we have to refuse admission forms to even many high-scorers,? said Krishna Damani of South Point High School, one of the most sought-after institutions.

Schools like St Lawrence, Patha Bhavan, Nava Nalanda, Carmel Convent, Gokhale Memorial, Sri Shikshayatan and Bethune are also facing increased demand.

South Point and Nava Nalanda are now planning to expand the number of HS seats offered in the future.

?At present, we have the capacity to accommodate 275 students in HS. But we have noted a tremendous increase in demand from high-scorers and we are planning to expand our HS unit in the near future,? said Arya Mitra, head of Nava Nalanda.

Finance minister Asim Dasgupta also announced on Thursday that the government will upgrade 400 state-aided Bengali-medium Madhyamik schools in the city and elsewhere in the state to the HS level.