Mumbai: In an attempt to accommodate students of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board in First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions, the state education ministry has directed all junior colleges to increase seats. Teachers claim the state is just trying to clear its own mess as it had scrapped internal assessments this year, which adversely affected scores of students. Around five per cent seats will be increased for the Science stream while eight per cent for Commerce and Arts in Mumbai region. Ten per cent seats will be increased for all streams in Pune and Nagpur region.
This move has come on the heels of the SSC board students complaining they would not be able to secure seats in FYJC admissions due to lower scores. Students revealed they scored lower marks as internal assessments for language subjects were scrapped this year by the state. The pass percentage of SSC board is 75.53 per cent this year, which means out of 16.77 lakh students who appeared, only 12.66 lakh cleared the examination. This increase of seats in junior colleges will also accommodate students who have failed after they cleared the re-examination in July. Ashish Shelar, the newly appointed state school education minister, said, “We have increased seats for Science, Commerce and Arts stream so that all students of both state and private boards get admissions. Students who have failed can apply for re-examination and secure admissions as there will be sufficient seats.”
On the other hand, authorities of junior colleges have opposed this decision of the state to increase the seats for FYJC. A principal of a western suburban college, said, “Last year, we had over 50,000 seats which were lying vacant after the admission process was complete. The state wants to add more seats even though every year we have to begin our academic classes with vacant seats for FYJC.” In addition, teachers claim the state is just trying to clear its own mess. A teacher said, “The state decided to scrap internal assessments this year which in turn impacted the marks scored by students. And now, the state is just trying to cover this fault by increasing the number of seats in junior colleges as it wants every student to secure admission.”
FYJC Admission Schedule
June 19 to 23- Filling options form (Part 2) for Bifocal and Quota admissions
June 19 to 29 till 5pm- Filling forms of part 1 and Part 2 for other streams except Bifocal
June 25 at 6pm- First merit list for Bifocal subjects
June 26 and 27 from 11am to 5pm- Online admissions for Bifocal of first list
July 6 at 6pm- First General merit list
July 8 to 10 from 11am to 5pm- Admission for first general list
July 11 and 12 from 11 to 5pm- Filling and editing part 2 form
July 15 at 6 pm- Second general merit list
July 16 to 18 from 11am to 5pm- Admission for second list
July 19 to 20 from 11am to 5pm- Filling and editing part 2 form
July 23 at 6pm- Third general merit list
July 24 to 26 from 11am to 5pm- Admission for third list
July 27 and 29 from 11am to 5pm- Filling and editing part 2 form
July 31 at 6pm- Special merit list
August 1 to 2 from 11am to 5pm- Admissions for special list
First-come-first served (FCFS) rounds will be announced later
- Ronald Rodrigues
