FYJC admissions on but students do not know how many seats on offer

MUMBAI: Even as quota merit lists and admissions for FYJC are underway, the education department is yet to announce the total intake capacity available for junior colleges in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Activists have raised concerns over several missing details in the centralized admission process. The bifocal merit list-called the zero round-was announced at 9pm instead of 6pm on Tuesday.But the ticker, changed thrice since evening, stated at 11 pm that the bifocal merit list would be declared at the earliest. The education department shared allotment details with the media but students could not see alloments till late on Tuesday.
This year, colleges were allowed to increase seats to the advantage of SSC students, the Maratha and Economically Weaker Sections quotas were introduced and over 30 new colleges were given permission. But the education department has not disclosed the seat matrix or intake capacity for colleges. The government has also not informed students of colleges where seats have been increased.
"There is lack of communication from the department's end. We were informed that we will be among the colleges where seats are being increased but there have been no further instructions and we announced the in-house merit list based on the old seat matrix," said a college principal. Popular junior colleges were asked to increase seats by 5% in the science stream and 8% in the arts and commerce stream. While the government earlier announced that 50 such colleges were identified in MMR, the final list was expected to have around 98 institutes.
Rajendra Ahire, deputy director of education said details will be given by Tuesday it was not done at the time of going to press. He also did not disclose if there is a deadline for colleges to apply for an increase in seats.
Vaishali Bafna, member of SYSCOM, a Pune-based think tank that monitors the centralised admission process all over the state, pointed out several other shortcomings in the process this year. "The portal is required to announce the college fees but for aided junior colleges, they have only stated that college fee is as per the government norms. Students will know the exact fee only once they visit the college," she said.