Following declaration of Class 10 Secondary School Certificate (SSC) results on Friday, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) will release forms for the optional Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to Class 11 First Year Junior College (FYJC). Sources from the state-board said the forms will be released online on July 19, 2021.
As per the government resolution (GR) of the Maharashtra state school education department, the optional CET for admissions to Class 11 (FYJC) based on the state-board syllabus will be conducted by July-end or in the first week of August. A senior official of MSBSHSE, Mumbai division said, "We will release the forms for optional CET on July 19. Students need to start preparing as the CET will be conducted by next month."
The CET, which is completely optional and will be conducted offline. The GR stated that students appearing for optional CET will be given first preference for admission to Class 11 FYJC, based on their CET scores. After the admission of students who have appeared for optional CET is completed, admissions will be given to remaining students on the basis of merit as per marks scored through Class 10 assessment method and depending on the vacancy of seats in junior colleges.
Students have questioned the conduct of CET for FYJC admission. Yogini Ujwala, a student said, "On one side, the state school education department has said the CET is optional while on the other, the department has said that admission to Class 11 (FYJC) will be first given to those who appear for CET. In a way, the state is coaxing us to appear for CET which is apparently an optional exam?"
Merwyn Leander, another student said, "If I do not appear for optional CET, I will have to wait for the allotment of seats after the admission of those who have appeared for CET is completed. This means seats in well-known junior colleges which are in demand will be full. I will rather appear for the CET exam."
The CET exam will be based on Class 10 state-board syllabus, with multiple-choice questions (MCQ) for 100 marks. There will be questions for 25 marks each in English, Mathematics, Science and Social Sciences subjects. The exam will be conducted by Optical Mark Reading (OMR) method for two hours.
