Mumbai: Students are securing admissions to the First Year Junior College (FYJC) under the inhouse and minority quotas as the cut-offs have been lowered this year. The cut-off marks have dipped by two to three per cent for Science, Commerce and Arts stream. Students claim it is easier to secure admissions under these quotas, since they have scored low marks in Class 10 this year.
Students of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board have scored low marks as the internal assessments were scrapped by the state. Students revealed, they prefer to apply under the quotas so that they can secure a seat in the desired college. This year, 10 per cent seats are reserved for inhouse quota while 50 per cent seats are reserved under the minority quota in junior colleges.
Cut-offs for seats under the minority quota for Science at St Xavier’s College, Fort, dipped from 80.8% in 2018 to 77.2% this year while for Arts, the cut-off is 84% as compared to 86.2% of last year. The cut-offs stood at 80 per cent for Commerce at NM College, Vile Parle.
Students claim securing admissions under quotas is beneficial considering their poor performance. Rasika Kothari, a student, said, “We will not be able to secure seats without these quotas. We have scored low marks in SSC board examinations and cut-offs are higher for the general category.” Linet Gonsalves, another student said, “The cut-offs are lower for minority quota which will help us to secure admissions instead of waiting for the general merit rounds.”
In addition, colleges claim they have lowered cut-offs in order to accommodate large number of students. A principal of a suburban college, said, “We understand students have scored low marks but we have limited seats under these quotas. Students ought to list different colleges in their preference list during the online admission process in order to be on the safe side.”
Some colleges with minority tag offering seats for cash: Dhananjay Munde
Mumbai: An allegation of some junior colleges having religious and linguistic minority statuses 'selling' the vacant seats for money was raised Tuesday in the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Responding to a calling attention raised by the Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde, state Education Minister Ashish Shelar said flying squads would be deployed to ensure strict compliance with norms for admission in junior colleges.
Munde has alleged that some junior colleges having religious and linguistic minority statuses generally cannot fill the sizable number of seats from their respective communities. "However, instead of surrendering these non-filled seats to the state government for its online procedure, these colleges offer admissions by accepting cash against the unfilled seats, which is an illegal practice," Munde alleged.
