Pune: Over three months after the SSC results were declared, Maharashtra’s maiden move to centralise the first-year junior college (FYJC, Standard XI) online admission across the state has run into serious challenges. Over 8 lakh seats (38%) still remain vacant across junior colleges despite multiple rounds, prompting calls from parents, educators and college associations to urgently revamp the system. Education department data shows that of the 21.5 lakh seats in over 9,500 junior colleges, 13.4 lakh admissions were confirmed. This is just about 62% of the total seats. The department is now conducting a final special round of admission, till Sept 9, to fill the vacant seats.The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had on May 13 declared the results of this year’s SSC examinations, which logged a 94.1% success rate. A total of 15,46,579 students had appeared for the exams. Of them, 7,60,325 boys and 6,95,108 girls passed.Though officials said the centralised system ensured transparency, many on the ground were of the view that execution flaws had left students and parents in the lurch. “Students with even 90%-plus scores were pushed into unaided divisions because of incorrect forms filled at cyber cafés and a slow response mechanism. All this have increased costs for families,” said a senior administrator of a prominent Pune junior college.The principal of another Pune college said: “The idea of a single-window system is good in principle, but the interface and the grievance redressal need to be much quicker. A real-time correction facility and a helpline that actually resolves issues within hours, and not days, is the need of the hour.”Last year, Pune had 42,187 vacant seats after all rounds. Educators across Pune emphasised that corrective action must be swift. “We cannot afford delays. The process must move faster, with offline support for students in exceptional cases,” an education policy expert said.Akanksha Varpe, a student from rural Pune, said: “In my first two attempts, there were errors from my side while filling the form. I subsequently decided to pursue arts, and not science. So I had to start the process again. I finally got admission in the college of my prefernce in the last round in Aug.”Sushma Kharat, a parent from Ahilyanagar, said the website had run into trouble initially and some of her son’s college preferences did not reflect in the system. “As a result, the first round went in vain. We raised the issue with the education department. In the subsequent rounds, we applied for the college of our choice. But my son’s name was not on the merit list. We tried our son’s admission in the following rounds as well. But the attempts failed. We are now banking on the special round.”According to the education department’s latest schedule to fill the vacancies started from Sept 3, students can register their preferences till Sept 6. The allotment of the seats will be published on Sept 8 and the admissions confirmed by Sept 9, the education department said in a statement.
