Education dept plans to revamp online system

MUMBAI: Drawing lessons from the first year junior college (FYJC) online admissions mess this year, the state education department plans to develop a process on

MUMBAI: Drawing lessons from the first year junior college (FYJC) online admissions mess this year, the state education department plans to develop a process on the lines of the engineering admissions for next year.

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Education minister Vinod Tawde said this will allow students to get automatic betterment of seats based on their merit.

The process this year dragged on for nearly four months as students were allotted seats in their least preferred colleges. This happened as students made mistakes while filling the online application form and the system allowed only one chance for betterment of seat. Students who got betterment in one round were not considered for other colleges, even if cut-offs fell in their top five preferred colleges.

This will not be repeated next year, Tawde said, if the department follows automatic multiple betterments based on merit and vacancies in colleges.

“Once the student fills the form, the seat allotted will pop up in every round instead of just once,” said Tawde. He said this system will also be made hassle-free. “Students will have to secure admission only at the end of the process, and not take a provisional admission every time.”

The department is planning to come up with a waiting list system, on the lines of the railway reservation. A student will be able to see his waiting list number in the colleges he has selected. “This will help him decide if he wants to continue trying for a particular college or if he should confirm his admission elsewhere,” said BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai region.

According to Chavan, the mistakes in allotment of seats in the ongoing admission round crept in because students didn’t choose the proper ward or zone. Applicants have to list their preferences in three parts — first is Mumbai, followed by zone and then ward or sectors. “As they didn’t understand this, students chose colleges far away from home in their top-10,” Chavan said.

In the new admission rounds, students will not have to list out any zone or ward.

The number of choices to be entered will be reduced to 10 from the current 35. “Students would choose colleges they didn’t want as they had to meet the target of 35 minimum colleges. But there might not be so many good colleges close to their homes ,” said TA Shiware, chairman of the Non-Government Colleges Principals Association.