A total of 48,944 students were allotted seats in the third general list; of these
28,524 students were assigned colleges for the first time
More than 5,000 students have still not been allotted seats
in Mumbai’s junior colleges even after the third and final general merit list was
announced on Monday. For the first time since the online admission system was introduced
three years ago, the school education department will put up a 'special' merit list
on August 12 for these students. Last year, despite technical glitches and confusion
over the Best-5 policy, a relatively fewer number of students-around 4,400-were
not allotted seats online. Parents and students are not amused and said that this
time round, there was no excuse for the education department to not account for
all the students.
"Every year, the education department says there's no reason to worry as there are
more seats than students. Yet every year, thousands of students are left out of
the online system. Why is that?" asked one angry parent.
A total of 48,944 students were allotted seats in the third general list; of these
28,524 students were assigned colleges for the first time while the rest were those
who were eligible for the betterment option. It's worth noting that while cutoffs
in the science and arts streams have dropped noticeably in the third list, cut-offs
among commerce colleges are still on the higher side-reflecting the popularity of
the course.
The third merit list left many students-especially those who had chosen commerce-disappointed
as they were unable to get a seat in a top-rung college. The admissions at NM College,
for instance, closed at a high 92.50%. At HR College, the cut-off was 90%.
Kirti Narain, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate, said: "We have 60-70 seats
still vacant in the commerce stream. The cut-off for commerce has gone down by just
over one percent , but the science list has dropped from 91.86% to 86.54%." The
college has more than 200 vacant seats in all the streams.
Cut-offs for science at K J Somaiya College in Vidyavihar dropped by 4%.
Principal Vijay Joshi said, "There are too many cancellations happening because
of the betterment option. Students who have already sought admissions in bifocals
are getting repeated allotments in the general list as well, which is why the cut-offs
were high in the previous lists. But many students finally secured their seats,
the cut-offs dropped drastically." "The merit list was the last chance for students
to exercise the betterment option. Once they secure their seat, we will know exactly
how many seats are vacant. We can then accommodate the remaining 5,191 students,"
said an official from the office of the deputy director of school education. "We
will come out with the special list at 10am on August 12. Students will have to
secure their seats by August 13.”
Courtesy: Times of India
