MUMBAI: In the second special round of First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions, only 58% of students who were allotted a seat have confirmed their place till the deadline on Saturday. This was the last of the regular admission rounds and nearly 20,000 students still do not have a seat.
For the second special round, 32,368 students were eligible, and 21,835 students were allotted a seat at a junior college in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Of these, only 12,882 students secured their seat until 6pm on January 9.
Officials from the education department said several students might have decided to wait for the first-come-first-serve (FCFS) rounds that will follow. “For those willing to take a risk, the FCFS rounds give them a shot at a college which might have cut-offs higher than their score,” said an official.
According to a government resolution (GR) issued in June 2020, the education department had done away with the FCFS rounds, but special permission was granted to bring them back.
In the FCFS rounds, students are allowed to claim a vacant seat irrespective of their scores. Students with a score of above 80% are given slots for day one. On day two, students with a score of 60% and above can claim a seat, and so on. The education department will soon announce a schedule for FCFS rounds.
Till date, 1.9 lakh students confirmed their place in colleges, and there are 1.2 lakh seats vacant. The FYJC admission process was delayed this year for over three months as the state did not take a decision on the implementation of SC’s interim order staying the 12% socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) quota.