ICSE students irked over State decision on FYJC admissions

Pune: Another controversy has hit the First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions, this time affecting thousands of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) students. 

The State government has directed all ICSE students to fill in the details of only the first five subjects in the admission forms.

Thousands of students are affected by this decision across Maharashtra.

Although parents informed that ticker of instruction was flashing on State School Education and Sports Department website for a couple of days, the State government passed the decision on Friday.

Parents and students of ICSE are irked over this last minute decision of choosing only the first five subjects for FYJC admission. Nonetheless, the students have to re-fill their Form 1 now. 

“The form has to be edited at the facilitating centre or school only. I received a message at 11.30 am on Saturday, with instructions to edit the form at the centre in case it hasn’t been done. But I did not find time to make it to the centre, and will go on Sunday,” said an ICSE parent.

A few parents also raised the concern that if a student is not available or not in the city till Sunday, then he/she is likely to miss the chance.

Another ICSE parent called the move ‘unnecessary creation of havoc’. “I just came from the centre. We don’t mind amendments but it should not be made during the ongoing admission process. The government could have declared this before the admission process began. Now, it has just created a hassle for parents and students,” said a parent.

The parents have also complained that marks of some of the children may reduce after this decision. “The State government should have asked for the ‘best of five’ like it was done till last year. My daughter has scored good marks in her subjects, so it doesn’t seem to be difficult for us to seek admission in colleges. However, considering this year’s high cut-offs, it will affect a few students,” a parent said.

“First five subjects in ICSE include main subjects, so they are considered equivalent to State Secondary Certificate (SSC) subjects. The sixth subject is practical-based. And we aren’t considering the practical marks. SSC has only five subjects,” said Minakshi Raut, Assistant Director of Education at Deputy Directorate of Education (DyDE), Pune region.
“Last year, ICSE had three groups A, B and C, of which C group wasn’t considered. However, this year, ICSE doesn’t have any group. So this decision has been made,” added Raut.

Raut also informed that centres will be open on Sunday (June 23). The admissions process will be carried out according to the given timetable only. There will be no delay in the admission process, confirmed, Raut.