The higher education department has increased seats in colleges across the state despite four lakh seats in various undergraduate courses remaining vacant. This would benefit students vying for admission in premium colleges.
Sources say that some students had met the higher education minister Mohan Yadav complaining that they could not get the college of their choice. They had submitted memorandum to officials of department as well.
Nevertheless, the ground reality of admissions is that after completion of two rounds of CLC (College Level Counseling) more than four lakh seats are vacant in various undergraduate courses across the state. The higher education department has to start a third round of counseling to fill vacant seats.
The order for increasing the seats by 15-30% has put the principals into a fix. “Seats should be increased considering the infrastructure of the college. More classrooms, more furniture and more staff will be required if seats are increased,” said a principal requesting anonymity.
At present there are 7,75,616 seats in different courses in undergraduate classes in colleges across the state. After completion of second round of CLC, only 2,97,139 students have taken admission. Even after this, 4,78,477 seats remain vacant.
Similarly, in postgraduate courses 63,556 students have taken admissions till date. There are 1,45,000 seats in different PG courses and 81,444 seats are lying vacant. “‘Most students seek admissions in prestigious colleges like Institute of Excellence, Nutan College etc in Bhopal. The cut off merit remains high and many settle for second or third option,” said principal of one such college. “The increase in number seats might help only such students. Otherwise decision of increasing seats could not be termed as a wise decision,” he added.
