TNN,
Mumbai edition, 07th Aug 2008
Mumbai: The state government seems to be
playing a game of mix and match as it attempts to place
every Class X student in a junior college.
At the fag end of the junior college admissions, there are
still 23,559 vacant seats across the Mumbai division, which
includes Mumbai, Thane and Raigad. In Mumbai alone, there
are 10,494 seats to be filled up. And it’s not only
little-known colleges that have openings. One of Mumbai’s
most popular institutions—D G Ruparel College at Matunga—has
about 20 seats vacant in the Arts stream for the first time.
This, when thousands of Class X passouts are still to get
admission. A couple of hundred students with marks between
40% and 80% still complain of not having got admission to
any college.
While about 2.59 lakh SSC students from the Mumbai division
cleared the exams as did 10,000-odd students from other
boards like ICSE and CBSE, there are 2.69 lakh junior college
seats in the region.
‘Same
names on different merit lists’
Mumbai: Figures may give the impression
that the number of students who have passed out of Std X
this year is nearly the same as the number of seats available
in junior colleges. But of the 2.69 lakh seats that are
available in Mumbai, Thane and Raigad, 2,51,735 comprise
the existing seats and 17,920 are those that have recently
been sanctioned in both old and new colleges, some of which
are not operational.
Even if one accounts for students who leave the region and
those who opt for courses other than HSC after Std X, it
will still mean that there are thousands of students who
have not got college admission. And this, despite the fact
that two rounds of admission are already over.
In order to fill the seats that were lying vacant after
the first round of admissions, the government began a second
round to match the empty seats with students who had not
got admission. However, the second round involved putting
up only one master merit list at each college. “I
have personally compared the master merit list for Bhavan’s
College, Andheri, and Patkar College, Goregaon, and have
found that around five of the 15-odd names on the list are
common. By that logic, around 30-35% of seats will remain
vacant in colleges even after the second round,’’
says a parent whose child is still to get a seat.
Both parents and educationists alike feel this year’s
chaotic admissions process makes a good case for proponents
of centralised admissions, like those followed in Pune and
Nagpur. “Centralised admission is the best and most
convenient option. However, I don’t know if the government
has the requisite manpower or infrastructure to deal with
the large number of students present in Mumbai,’’
said Kiran Mangaokar, principal, Mithibai College, Vile
Parle.
TRUE
STORY
No
of vacant seats in the Mumbai Division (Mumbai, Thane, Raigad)
Arts:
8,894
Science:
6,460
Commerce:
8,205
Total:
23,559
