Over 83K seats still vacant after third round for Class 11 admissions

dheeraj.bengrut@htlive.com

Even after the third regular round of merit list for the first-year junior college (FYJC) online centralised admissions, as many as 83,232 seats out of the total 119,705 seats available in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad divisions are vacant. The director of education (secondary and higher secondary) Pune declared the third list along with the college cut-off list on Monday. Last year, 50,034 seats in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad divisions had remained vacant after completion of three regular rounds.

In the first two regular rounds declared earlier this month, as many as 36,473 students were admitted to 340 colleges in Pune. Experts said that despite completion of three regular rounds, even half of the seats have not been filled up this year and students are favouring professional, technical and job-oriented courses over traditional stream courses. The education department is afraid that a large number of seats may remain vacant this year due to the number of admissions being lesser than the number of available seats.

“For any student, his/her financial condition at home is important and in the last few years, it has been noticed that students are going for short-term courses through which they get jobs immediately,” said professor Arun Adsul, chairman, Indian Institute of Education (IIE) and former vice-chancellor (VC) of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). “Overall, students are now turning towards professional and technical courses immediately after the Class 10 board exams,” Adsul said.

In the third regular admission round, a total of 65,212 seats were up for grabs for which 46,598 students were found eligible but only 13,273 students were allotted colleges. So far, only 1,512 out of these 13,273 students have been admitted. The students who have been allotted colleges can confirm their admissions by July 24. The remaining 33,325 students who had applied for admission in these rounds have not yet got admission. Of the 13,273 students allotted colleges: 3,906 students were given the first college of their choice; 2,526 students were given the second college of their choice; and 1,531 students were given the third college of their choice. “I did not take admission for the traditional course after my Class 10 board exams and preferred to take admission to a mechanical diploma course which will give me better job opportunities,” said Vishal Kudale, a student.

Jyoti Parihar Solanki, assistant director of education, Pune, who is in charge of the admission process, said, “Two regular rounds of admission have been completed and the third regular round admission allotment list has been declared today. This year, the number of admissions is less in the first three rounds as a large number of students in different categories have not taken admission in these rounds. Later in the special rounds, these seats will be open for all students and we hope that there will be a good response to the admission process.”