FYJC admission chaos continues on day 2

After the portal crashed due to heavy traffic on Thursday afternoon, government officials said the problem had been resolved but lakhs of students were left stranded on Friday as well. The school education department has extended the deadline for submission of college preferences to May 25

MUMBAI: Day two the FYJC, or Class 11, admission process was just as harrowing as it was on Thursday, with the government-run portal registering the students’ college preferences running even slower on Friday.

FYJC admission chaos continues on day 2

After the portal crashed due to heavy traffic on Thursday afternoon, government officials said the problem had been resolved but lakhs of students were left stranded on Friday as well. The school education department had earlier extended the deadline for submission of college preferences to Saturday. It has further extended it to May 25. The first merit list is now likely to be announced on May 29.

This constitutes Part 2 of the admission process. Students were allowed to fill Part 1 of the admission form from April 10, even before the SSC results were declared. However, most registrations increased only after the results were announced.

Students across the state reported repeated issues with the online portal on Friday. Apart from crashing frequently, it presented login problems, forms were not saved, and there were problems while selecting colleges. The crisis is stressing students, who fear losing admission opportunities due to the delays.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) demanded immediate intervention from the state government and has asked the government to provide at least seven days for each admission round. It has also demanded that all deadlines remain suspended until the portal begins to function properly.

Nearly 954,000 students had completed Part I of the admission process by May 20, without facing major technical issues. The portal appears to have crashed as soon as a more students started accessing the website.

Swapna Shinde, a parent of a Class 10 student from Sion, said she was able to submit her daughter’s form after ten attempts. She finally submitted her college options at around 1 am, after trying to work the portal for several hours.

According to official data, 954,000 students have registered for admissions across 9,583 junior colleges in Maharashtra. While more than 2.19 million seats are available, only 39,613 admissions have been confirmed so far.

Most engg admissions on track: State CET

Two days after state higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil said engineering admissions could be delayed due to the NEET paper leak issue, the State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell has clarified that admissions for most engineering courses will not be derailed.

On Friday, the CET Cell said admissions for engineering branches that do not require NEET scores will proceed without delay. Only nine engineering-related courses require NEET 2026 scores along with CET marks for admission. These are: agricultural engineering, biotechnology, food engineering, leather technology, packaging technology, pharmaceutical engineering, printing engineering, fashion technology, and textile chemistry.

Admissions to these courses are conducted under the 15% all-India quota and are available in only 17 government-approved institutes across Maharashtra. The CET Cell said if the NEET re-examination results are delayed, admissions for seats outside the 15% all-India quota will begin on time.

The announcement has brought relief to lakhs of engineering aspirants, who were worried that the entire admission process would be delayed due to the uncertainty surrounding the NEET results.

Two days ago, higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil had said the NEET paper leak and a possible re-exam could affect engineering and pharmacy admissions in the state. Asked whether the admission process could continue by excluding the NEET-based courses, both the minister and CET Cell opposed the idea. They argued that such a move could create difficulties for students interested in the nine NEET-linked courses, especially if those students later wanted to shift to other engineering branches.