As many as 2,18,418 students have received allotment after the first allotment list for admission to Plus One higher secondary course under the single window system was published on Wednesday.
Allotment was held to 2,71,136 seats in government and aided schools. The number of vacant merit seats that remains is 52,718. A total of 4,65,219 students had applied for Plus One admission. Admission to the allotted seats will get under way at 9 a.m. on Thursday. It will go on till October 1.
In Malappuram which had the most number of applicants, allotment was held to 30,882 of the 41,470 seats. In Kozhikode, 22,027 of the 27,927 seats were allotted, in Palakkad, 20,096 of the 24,345 seats, and in Thrissur, 18,037 of the 21,367 seats to which allotments were held.
All 1,31,782 general category seats have been filled. Forty-nine seats remain in the Ezhava category across four districts, while 147 seats are left in the Muslim category. In this category, no seats are vacant in Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod, and only two in Thrissur. The maximum number of vacant seats is in Idukki – 64.
In the Latin Catholic category, 3,076 seats are vacant, the most in Malappuram – 833. The least was in Ernakulam – two, followed by Thiruvananthapuram – eight.
While 9,419 Scheduled Caste seats are vacant, 23,656 Scheduled Tribe seats are also unfilled. In the economically weaker section category, 5,303 seats are vacant.
All these vacant seats will be considered under the general category in the next allotment. This will leave nearly 2.47 lakh students competing for the 52,718 vacant seats, plus the seats in the community and management quota seats in aided schools.
This has exacerbated the fears of students who have not received allotment that they will not get to pursue the courses they want in schools they want. Even if the seats in vocational higher secondary, ITI and polytechnics are considered, at least 50,000 students are expected to be forced to turn to open schooling owing to lack of seats, particularly in the Malabar region.
Teachers’ organisations say that in some districts such as Pathanamthitta, seats will remain vacant. However, a student in Kozhikode will not be able to take admission there. Moreover, many students with A+ will not be able to take admission in the school they studied in owing to the limited seats and will have to try their luck elsewhere. Even then, they cannot be assured of admission owing to the bonus point criteria. The allotment that left academically bright students high and dry was unscientific, the Kerala School Teachers’ Union said.
