Over 71K seats still vacant

MUMBAI: In what will come as a huge relief to anxious students and parents who are caught in the admission trap, the state education board announced on Thursday that there are over 71,000 FYJC seats still vacant, even after the first round of admissions.
As the first round of admissions closed, the government claimed that over 23,000 seats in the social reservation category - which includes kin of freedom fighters and ex-servicemen, seats set aside for handicapped, for the sport and cultural quota - were vacant.
"There are 5 per cent seats set aside for these quotas, but merely 1 per cent has been filled. All these seats, except those for the physically handicapped, will be offered to general category students in the second merit list,'' said V K Wankhede, Mumbai's deputy director school education. Seats for physically challenged students will remain vacant till the last round of admission.
Similarly, 50% of all minority seats in the city remain unfilled, and a total of 24,925 seats were transferred to the state and will be offered to general category students. There will be 3,202 seats in arts, 7,118 in commerce and 14,606 seats from the science stream that will be on offer in the second round.
"Roughly 10,000 students have been allotted a seat in a college that has been their very first preference,'' said Swapna Durve, supervisor from Mithibai College.
The second round of admission is slated to begin on July 24. Government officials insisted that students had no reason to panic, and added, "Everyone will get a seat.''
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