Many FYJC aspirants from Thane district opt out of mandatory online admissions process

Fearing high cut-offs if they enter the online admissions process, many FYJC aspirants from Thane district have opted to take offline examinations this year- that is, to approach colleges directly. Despite the Deputy Directorate of Education giving students time until 10pm on Tuesday to fill their online application forms, over 10,000 students in Thane district have not done so. The district, which comprises Navi Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Dombivli and Thane city, has produced 49,485 online applicants, far fewer in number than the 59,437 students from the district who passed their SSC examinations.

The SSC pass percentage this year was 93.01%, and many students feared that it would be difficult to get admissions on merit; so they are angling for either management or minority quota seats. The admissions for these quotas take place offline.

"Many students have scored good marks, and they are confident that they will get selected through the minority quotas, so they have not filled up the online form. It is actually mandatory that every student should fill the online form, and we have explained this numerous times to the students, and have made announcements about it as well. The offline admissions are like the last straw, and these take place only after seats for online admissions are filled," said Ravindra Ahirao, Assistant Deputy Education Inspector for Thane.

Officials blamed the low demand for online admissions on the rise in the number of minority-run junior colleges and the CBSE and ICSE schools offering Class 12 this year. This year, from Thane city, there were 20,403 students who cleared their SSC exams but only 17,369 have filled the online application form for FYJC admissions. Similarly, Navi Mumbai has only 11,205 online applicants despite 12,999 students having passed the SSC. In Kalyan and Dombivli, there are around 18,487 students who passed their SSC exams and 15,473 online applicants.

Even schools feel that it is the fear of high cut-offs in the open category that has led to students preferring offline admissions. In CBSE and ICSE exams, a large number of students had scored 90% this year, but as for the SSC exams, nearly 70% students have scored less than 75%.