With schools reopening in 25 districts of Maharashtra for Standards 9 to 12 from Monday, students of Standard 11 are left confused as their First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions have not been completed. The state government has halted the FYJC admission online process midway due to the Maratha quota issue that is pending before the Supreme Court (SC).
Students opting for FYJC admission have questioned the decision of the state school education department to reopen offline lectures for Standards 9 to 12.
Chitra Pranjan, a student said, "It is ironic because on one side, the state school education department has started conducting lectures inside classrooms for Standards 9 to 12 from Monday. On the other hand, the state government has suspended the FYJC admission process midway leaving us in a lurch."
The FYJC admission online process has been halted since September 10, 2020. Aniket Desai, another student said, "Only a few students who were allotted seats in the first merit round have secured admission to FYJC till now. Most of us were waiting for the second merit round but the list was never declared. Is the state government restarting offline lectures only for this handful number of students? What about the rest of us who have not been allotted a seat? What about our academic loss?"
Over 2.75 lakh students have registered online for FYJC admissions against 3.20 lakh seats in 844 colleges in the Mumbai region this year. Out of this, 12 percent seats were reserved for the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) in FYJC admission.
The SC directed an interim stay on reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for candidates belonging to the Maratha community in Maharashtra on September 9. Following which, the state government halted the FYJC admission process as it termed Marathas as a Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC). During the last hearing on October 27, the SC adjourned the matter by four weeks. Recently, the state school education department had said that the FYJC admission process will resume post-Diwali vacation. But the FYJC admission portal https://11thadmission.org.in/ till date states, "With reference to the orders of the Supreme Court (SC) of India (regarding SEBC reservation), the rest admission process is postponed until further notice. Further time-table for the 11th online admission process will be declared after government approval."
