Mumbai: Curious case of 74,000 missing students

Representational Picture

It seems the hullabaloo over tough competition for junior college seats and the corresponding 10 per cent increase in the number of seats granted by the government, was all a farce. At least the outcome of the first round of Std XI admissions points at that. Out of the 1.35 lakh candidates, who were allotted seats in colleges across the city, only 61,000 have confirmed admission. This has led to activists questioning the government's decision to increase the number of seats. According to the admission numbers declared by the Deputy Director of Education (DyDE), 88 candidates have cancelled their admissions and 373 were rejected. However, about 72,361 candidates did not even report at the respective colleges to take admission.

"This shows there was clearly no need to increase the intake capacity of colleges. The fear of students losing out on seats due to low marks now just feels like a farce. While many students take up non-traditional courses, others switch over to CBSE board to be able to balance regular studies and preparations for competitive examinations like JEE and NEET. No audit will be conducted at the end of the admission process, as once a student is out the system, there is no way he/she can be traced," said Vaishali Bafna, director of education wing of System for Correcting Movement, which is working on resolving issues related to the online admission system for Std XI.

She further said, "As part of the admission process, candidates should be able to say whether they wish to continue or discontinue the process. This will help DyDE to have an idea of the number of students who opt out of the system."

When contacted, deputy director of education, Rajendra Ahire, was unavailable for comment. A senior official from the office, who is closely working with the system, said, "The number of applications were quite less this year, and compared to it, the number of seats filled is not a concern, as many students don't take admission in the first round hoping they will get a better college in the next one. But if any candidate is allotted a seat in the first preferred college and he/she doesn't take admission, then the person is out of the system as per the rule. We are in the process of figuring out the exact number of such students."

88k
No. of candidates who have cancelled their admissions

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