First-come, first-serve round back for FYJC, says education dept

In a relief for first-year junior college (FYJC) aspirants in the state, the education department has decided to have first-come, first-serve (FCFS) admission rounds for those left without a seat through the online admission process.

While the department had earlier decided to do away with the FCFS rounds this year, the decision was revoked owing to a large number of students still without seats after five admission rounds.

In Mumbai, more than 10,000 students are without seats after these rounds, despite there being nearly 1.3 lakh vacant seats in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). “The department has granted special permission to conduct FCFS rounds. A detailed schedule of the same will be declared soon,” said Dattatray Jagtap, director of secondary and higher secondary education in the state.

In 2020, the department had declared that there would be no FCFS rounds, and only special rounds would be conducted for students who do not get admission in regular rounds.

FCFS rounds usually follow regular admission rounds, in which students can claim seats against vacancies across colleges in a particular city or district, and are allotted seats based on who claims them first. These rounds were introduced in the academic year 2018-19 but were criticised by many parents and experts as they allowed students with lower scores to get into top colleges against vacant seats.

On Wednesday, state education minister Varsha Gaikwad tweeted, “Admissions under the second special merit list will conclude on January 8 after which the schedule for FCFS round will be announced.”

According to data shared by Gaikwad, 42% of the total seats lying vacant after five admission rounds are in six regions – Amravati, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik and Pune – where admissions to FYJC is online.

Similarly, 23% (nearly 1 lakh) of the total (4.15 lakh) students who have applied for seats are yet to take admission anywhere.