FYJC admissions: Maharashtra education department makes process simpler for students

Schools have also been asked to employ trained staff to guide students through the process.

Worried about first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions? Relax, as the state education department has made this year’s process simpler, promising assistance at every step.

Students and parents check the first merit list of FYJC at a college in the city in 2018. (HT File)

Here’s how: In a first, the department will set up a formal help desk at the office of the deputy director at Charni Road. Schools have also been asked to employ trained staff to guide students through the process. Moreover, a detailed seat matrix will be released ahead of results to guide parents and students.

“Our aim is to make the process as easy and student-friendly as possible. We will set up additional desks to ensure that students’ queries are addressed immediately. We will also ensure that trained staff is appointed at all help centres across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), to provide immediate resolution of a query,” said Bhaskarrao Babar, assistant director of education, Mumbai region.

In 2018, there were 3.05 lakh seats across 800 colleges in MMR, for which more than 2.5 lakh students had applied. So far, nearly 500 colleges from the region have registered for the upcoming admissions. While the registrations were supposed to close on Friday, the department has extended the deadline till May 15. “Many colleges are yet to register. We are giving them a final chance to do so,” said an official from the education department.

With the introduction of quotas for Marathas and economically backward sections this year, reservations at non-minority colleges in the city will touch 83-93%. “We are planning to come up with a detailed seat matrix, which would make the reservation pattern clear. This will be released on the admission website, so students exactly know the seat position at each college,” said Babar.

Meanwhile, colleges have also been trained to understand the system. “We have conducted workshops with schools and junior colleges to explain the new matrix to them, so they can pass on the information to students,” he said. Students can register for admissions from the first week of June in 2019. It would begin with a zero round, where colleges would be allowed to fill their minority, management and in-house quotas, after which three regular admission rounds will be conducted. Students who don’t get a seat in these rounds will get another chance in a special round, after the three rounds