More seats, less FYJC chaos? Maharashtra govt mulls new solution

In a bid to ensure that students of the state education board don’t lag behind their counterparts from other boards in first year junior college (FYJC) admissions, the government is now considering increasing the number of seats in prominent junior colleges.

State education minister Vinod Tawde said on Thursday, “The government is currently discussing if seats can be increased to ensure students across all boards get a fair chance at admissions. Permissions can be given to some colleges to increase their intake, if need be.”

The move comes a day after Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the issue and suggested addition of seats as one of the remedies to the existing chaos. “We have got a positive response from the CM and are hopeful that SSC students won’t be affected,” said Thackeray, at a press conference on Thursday.

Principals, however, said addition of seats would be a tedious process, especially for institutes which have both junior and degree colleges under the same infrastructure. “We have to conduct an audit of our existing seats and then check where and how more students can be accommodated, a process which will take some time,” said Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind College.

Tawde said the government has also written to the CBSE and ICSE requesting for marks of students, with the bifurcation of written and oral/internal
scores. “We have got a positive response from the boards and hope to get the details soon,” he said.

HT had earlier reported on the education department’s proposal to calculate only written marks of students from CBSE and ICSE boards for FYJC admissions. The department had said the move would end the disparity between students from the state and other boards, as the former did not have any oral exams this year. When asked if orals would be reintroduced from the next year, Tawde said the decision would be taken after consulting experts.

A group of parents from the state has written to the CBSE and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against the state’s proposal to not calculate internal marks of other board students. “Reforms must not happen arbitrarily with disastrous results for students. Depriving students of these marks will be unfair, as students have taken efforts to earn them, which will go in vain,” stated the letter by Indiawide Parents’ Association.

First Published:
Jun 14, 2019 00:21 IST

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