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ShareMumbai: A level playing field for admissions to junior colleges is in the offing.
At a meeting in Navi Mumbai, representatives of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, and the Central Board of Secondary Education reached a consensus to consider the scores of the best five subjects for admissions.
Earlier this year, the Bombay high court had dismissed the 90:10 quota proposed by the state government. Last year, it had struck down the percentile system.
The new proposal will soon be sent to the state government. "While one board has six subjects, the other has seven," Shridhar Salunkhe, chairperson of the Mumbai division board, said. "Most of us agreed to take the scores of the best five subjects and consider them for admissions to junior colleges in the state."
Salunkhe said this would give everyone a common platform. "We are planning to adopt it because we think this will work."
The matter will be discussed in detail at a coordination committee meeting before presenting it to the government. More than 40 principals from SSC, ICSE, and CBSE schools attended the meeting on Tuesday to discuss matters related to their boards.
Balasaheb Thorat, education minister, said, "I cannot say anything because we are still to discuss the admission issue in the cabinet."
While the meeting was essentially an exercise to discuss the good policies of other boards that the state board could adopt, admissions to junior colleges dominated the meeting.
The state board officials organised the meeting to bridge the gap among the boards. "The ICSE board allows students to pick optional subjects according to their interests," Salunkhe said. "It's a very good aspect. Also, they follow the two-language formula, which the state board can consider."
In 2008, the education department released a government resolution saying admissions will be based on the percentile system. ICSE students challenged it successfully in the high court, saying SSC students would benefit more from the policy.
Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who was the education minister earlier this year, announced the 90:10 quota system. ICSE and CBSE schools opposed it. ICSE school authorities said that if the system were to be followed, their students would get only 10% reservation in prominent colleges where almost 30% to 40% seats were filled by students from ICSE and CBSE schools. The high court scrapped this system as well.
