Class 12 admissions in Mumbai to stay offline

Mumbai city news: The decision comes as relief to Class 12 students looking to change colleges this year

After putting Class 12 admissions in Mumbai colleges on hold for the past three months, the state’s school education department on Monday finally shelved a plan to make the process online.

Students of Lilavatibai Podar High School takes selfie to celebrate their success in Class 12 exam on Monday. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

The department just about 5% of students want to switch colleges after Class 11, and so investing in an online process makes little sense.

“The ends don’t justify the means,” said a senior education official. The official said colleges can start offline admissions as soon as education minister Vinod Tawde officially scraps the plan. “Tawde has agreed. We will inform colleges in a couple of days,” the official said.

Junior colleges will be able to fill vacancies on their own, offline, like they did in the past.

The decision comes as relief to Class 12 students looking to change colleges this year. Colleges had to put on hold for a few months after the department issued a circular saying students can change colleges only through the online process.

College principals, however, were upset with this flip-flop by the department. “We are victims of the department’s poor planning. Next time, it will be better if they think things through before implementing them,” said Kavita Rege, principal, Sathaye College, Vile Parle.

Hindustan Times reported on May 26 that education officials proposed shelving the plan in a meeting with Tawde. Officials said with the Class 11 admission process being delayed by nearly a month with many changes in those admissions this year, it would be difficult to handle both classes together.

The state overhauled the admission procedure for Class 11 and Class 12 after the Bombay high court asked it to bring in transparency and make the process more efficient. A new software by Nysa Asia will be used. Nysa Asia also replaces Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) as the technical partner this year.