Mumba: Around 8,765 students have been allotted seats for bifocal courses for the First Year Junior College (FYJC) admission in the first (bifocal) merit round. Students waited for the first merit list which was supposed to be declared at 6pm on Tuesday but was declared late night without information of the total number of seats available in junior colleges. Out of 8,765, around 8,432 students have been allotted seats for Science, 324 for Commerce and nine for Arts stream. A total of 28,644 seats are available for bifocal courses. Cut-offs stood at 94.2 per cent for Computer Science (CS) at Ruparel College, Matunga, 92.2 per cent at Mithibai College, Vile Parle, and 92 per cent at Jai Hind College and 90.6 per cent at KC College, Churchgate.
While for Electronics, the cut-offs were 93 per cent at Sathaye College, Vile Parle, 88 per cent at Bhavan's College, Andheri, 80.6 per cent at SK Somaiya College, Vidyavihar. Students claim bifocal courses allow them to opt for vocational subjects like Computer Science (CS), Electronics or Electrical Maintenance which help them score higher marks.
We can score higher marks in Class 12 board examinations and also gain knowledge about technical courses, claim students. Sahil Lohakare, a student, said, “We can score higher in these subjects as compared to the general stream. Also, we gain some knowledge about CS or electronics which can help us when we opt for engineering or technical courses ahead.”
Students have criticised the online admission process claiming the state education department has delayed the announcement of merit list and has failed to provide necessary information. Zaira Aslum, a student, said, “We were waiting online since 6 pm for the first merit list but there was no information. The list was declared post 9 pm without information about the total number of seats in all junior colleges.” Students are clueless about the total number of seats available for various streams in all junior colleges. Recently, the state education department had informed colleges to increase eight per cent seats for Commerce and Arts and five per cent seats for Science. Also, around 30 new colleges were added to the online FYJC admission process this year.
- Ronald Rodrigues
