The government’s ambitious plan to reduce students’ stress by implementing online admissions for all educational courses has not even come close to achieving its goal. On the contrary it has increased problems for the students as thousands of them have been made to run from pillar to post for admissions.
While this is the third year of the FYJC online admissions, sources in the deputy director’s office say that nearly 30,000 students have opted for the offline admission process since the online admission process was completed on July 9.
“The form filling exercise is very confusing. Due to this, students end up doing mistakes and are left with seats in colleges that are far from their residence or not as per their social standing,” said Sanjay Bhatla, father of Class 10 student Mukund Bhatla. He further added that his son managed to get a seat in a well-known college in Vile Parle only after he pulled some strings even though he could have easily got the seat simply on the basis of his SSC percentage.
According to N.B. Pawar, deputy director of school education, who is responsible for the FYJC online admission process said the problems were minor and could not be construed as a major failure. “The admissions are done by the software which works on the randomisation principle. Hence, it will use the data filled by the students and allocate seats accordingly. Thus, if the student has made any mistake, s/he will have to suffer,” said Mr Chavan.
Jayesh Soni wanted to pursue a degree Bachelor in Management Studies in a South Mumbai College, but as his percentage was less, he did not get admission even though he had registered for the same. He was told that with his percentage he was eligible for admission to Bachelor of Business and Insurance, but for that he had to reregister on the University of Mumbai website. However, due to website accessibility issues he was able to do so only after two days. However, by then he was told that the seats in BBI were exhausted and he opted for Bachelor of Finance and Accountancy only to be told that he would have to re-register. “Even though the lectures have started I am yet to get admission. This registration process is useless and has resulted in a lot of stress for me and thousands of other students like me,” said Soni.
University officials, however, said that due to the minor glitches it had extended the date for online registration till July 31. “The registration is compulsory as the University is trying to streamline admissions and maintain a student database. We will try to ensure that all students get admissions to the vocation of their choice,” said a university official.