Patna: Students cleared to join the Simultala residential school this session are likely to start classes in December as the institution has not yet received the list of successful candidates.

Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) that conducts the admission process for the residential school in Jamui, around 230km southeast of Patna, declared the admission results for classes VI, VII and IX on October 4.

The education department has to send the final list of the students to the school for the institution to inform the candidates and conduct a medical test. But the Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya has not yet received the list - it would likely get the list of successful candidates by the first week of November. Classes can only start in December giving the students only three months to complete their syllabus in time for the final exam in March.

Once the school gets the list, it will inform the students over post about the date, time and venue for them to appear in the medical test. The school will prepare the final merit list of candidates eligible for admission only after that.

Rajiv Ranjan, the principal of Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya, said: "The school office opened on Monday after the month-long Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath vacations. Once we get the data, likely by this week, we will set the timetable for the medical examination of students with due consultation of the Jamui civil surgeon."

The Simultala residential school, a dream project of chief minister Nitish Kumar, was gifted to the people of Bihar in August 2010. It is modelled after the Netarhat Residential School in Jharkhand.

Principal Ranjan accepted that this year the new academic session was delayed but refused to elaborate on the reasons for it. Sources, however, said the delay could have been because while BSEB conducts the admission test, the state education department issues notices and advertisement for the entrance test.

The preliminary entrance test was conducted on April 9, followed by the mains in August. In the final results declared on October 4, 360 candidates - equal number of boys and girls - were cleared for admission in classes VI, VII and IX.

Bihar School Examination Board chairman Anand Kishor said: "Our role was limited to conducting the examination. Based on the state government's directive we conducted the preliminary test and mains examination and declared the results."