Mumbai junior college admissions: FYJC third list not out, but classes to begin soon

Even as the third merit list for admissions to first-year junior college has been delayed owing to the order by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on quota seats in colleges run by linguistic and religious minorities, some colleges in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) have decided to start the academic year even before the admission process ends. 

Prominent colleges such as St Xaviers, HR College, KC and VG Vaze Kelkar will start conducting lectures before July 31, when the third list is expected to be out. All these colleges have filled more than 70% seats in each stream and can start academic session as per the norms laid by the state education department.

“We have decided to start the classes as most of our seats are filled. A further delay would mean there would be no time left to complete the syllabus, which will affect students. We will conduct extra classes for students who join late,” said Hemlata Bagla, principal, KC College. 

As per the revised admission schedule released on Wednesday, four admission rounds are expected to conclude by August 9. With the third deferment in the schedule, colleges are worried about their academic schedules being pushed further leaving no time to finish the syllabus.

“The first unit test is usually conducted in the first week of September. With the delay, we are worried about finishing the syllabus and teaching hours,” said Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind College. 

Most colleges have already conducted orientation sessions with their freshers. “We are done with the orientation and plan to start the college from Moday (July 30),” said Vidyadhar Joshi, principal, VG Vaze Kelkar College, Mulund. 

After two rounds of admissions, more than 1.5 lakh students from MMR are yet to secure a seat. Education department will declare a revised seat matrix on Friday, which would include surrendered seats from the in-house quota of minority colleges.