On the first day of resumption of the First Year Junior College (FYJC) admission online process, students of the Maratha community have opposed the decision of the state government to conduct admissions without reservation for the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) quota. Students state they will lose their chance to secure seats under 12 per cent reservation in junior colleges that are in demand for specific streams of study.
Students said there is a high competition for seats in Science, Commerce, Arts, and vocational streams for FYJC in certain well-known colleges of the city. According to students, seats in these colleges get filled by the second merit list. Now, without 12 per cent reservation for the Maratha quota, the competition for seats will get tougher.
Swaroopa Surve, a student said, "I want to secure a seat in the best junior college because the entire education system has now shifted to online mode. I was confident of securing a seat in the college of my preference under the SEBC quota reservation. But now, with no Maratha reservation, I am compelled to settle and opt for other junior colleges in my preference list."
Students had to change their application from SEBC to open category and update their college preference list as the state school education department allowed them to do so starting from November 26 till December 1, 2020. But students claim this shift from SEBC quota to open category will increase competition leading to higher cut-off marks for open category.
Umang Malhotra, a student said, "The competition is already high as many have scored high marks this year in Class 10 board examinations. Now, the number of applicants in the general category is increasing as students are shifting from the SEBC quota to the open category. This will lead junior colleges to set higher cut-off marks because there are more takers now under the open category."
