First junior college admission list released in Mumbai

The first bifocal merit list under the centralized admissions process for junior college seats was released on Thursday. This is the first year that the state has integrated bifocals admissions into the centralised admissions process and for the 26,740 bifocal seats available at various city colleges, barely 14,307 applications were received this year.

According to information shared by the Mumbai deputy director’s office, 7,406 applicants were allotted seats in the first round, out of which 3,371 students got a college which was their first preference.

“Our bifocals merit list ended at 94.6% for Computer Science and 91.8% for Electronics,” said Rajpal Hande, principal of Mithibai College. Most colleges were unsure about the change in cut-offs for the bifocal subjects compared to last few years as this is the first time that a centralised merit list was drawn.

The administration of KC College at Churchgate, on the other hand, was busy tending to complaints from several students. “Few students who had listed our college as their first preference for bifocal courses were placed in institutes which were second or third on their preference list, despite them scoring 95-97% in Class 10. This is bizarre,” said Hemlata Bagla, principal, KC College, Churchgate.

“With such high scores, it is appalling that the system did not place them in the college of their preference. We are going to personally take this up with the deputy director on Friday,” added Bagla.

The second merit list for bifocals will be released on June 28 while the first general merit list for junior college admissions will be released at 5pm on June 29.

Total seats available in bifocals—26,740

Total applications received this year—14,307

Total students allotted seats in first bifocal round—7,406

Why choose bifocals?

Popular among engineering aspirants, students who opt for the bifocal courses can drop biology and a second language subject and opt for a single 200-mark subject like electronics, computer science and electrical maintenance. In 2016, a 25% reservation was introduced for bifocal seats in FYJC for students who opted for technical subjects in class X.