Boys applying to a Bengaluru college for the first year of pre-university have an easier time of it as the cut off marks for boys are lower than for girls. Located in a prime locality just behind Navrang Theatre in Rajajinagar, KLE Pre-University College has separate cut-off marks for boys and girls. A notice put up in the college campus specifies the minimum percentage of marks for each course in the Arts, Commerce and Science streams, and almost always, the cut off marks for boys is lower. For instance, girls seeking admission under the general category for the Physics-Chemistry-Maths-Biology (PCMB) course must have a minimum of 88% while boys need a score of 80%. The pattern repeats for almost all courses for various categories of reservations for students from backward communities. Principal Vinay Kumar said that the rules were relaxed in favour of boys as girls supposedly fare better in Class 10 examination, and added: “The College is safe and parents who send their children to the college stay nearby and hail from middle class and upper middle class family. Parents are conservative so they send the girls to our college.” He added that the college received more applications from girls, and according to the rules, they ensured half the seats for girls. “To compensate, we have raised the cut-off percentages (for girls). Girls who still demand admission after the quota is full, we give them management seats,” he said. Joint Director at the Pre-University Department V. K Nagaraja however, said he wasn’t aware of any such rule which mandates colleges to have the same ratio of boys and girls, and directed this reporter to his subordinate officer. Regardless of whether such a rule is permissible in a college, it does not appear to have gone down well with students. Sagarika V, who passed her II PU examination this year, said that such a system needed to be changed since it sent out a wrong message to youth. The cut-off list put up on the college notice board “Colleges are expected to teach us about equality between sexes. Instead they are discriminating against us. As girls, we work harder, it is not our fault that we score higher than boys,” she said. Sharan Kumar, who had applied for admission to the college, seconded Sarika’s thoughts. “It isn’t fair. Let them choose students on basis of merit, gender (discriminations) is too much,” he said. Assistant Director of the department Padmini PC said that she would look into the matter and apprise the Director of pre-university education of the situation. However, she said that unless they received a complaint with or without evidence, they could not take any action.