63% of Mumbai’s FYJC students opting for humanities: study

Three of every four first-year junior college (FYJC) students across the country, including Mumbai, aspiring to seek admission to a degree college, are keen to opt for humanities, according to a study conducted by private career solutions company, CareerCo.

Three of every four first-year junior college (FYJC) students across the country, including Mumbai, aspiring to seek admission to a degree college, are keen to opt for humanities, according to a study conducted by private career solutions company, CareerCo.

Of the 36,000 respondents from more than nine cities, 74% students said they were interested in pursuing humanities, while 11% were keen to study science with biology and 9% chose to pursue science with mathematics. Only 6% of the respondents wanted to opt for the commerce stream.

Of the 800 respondents from Mumbai, 63% FYJC students said they were keen to pursue humanities.

“The survey’s findings are not surprising,” said Jyoti Thakur, external co-ordinator, Jai Hind College, Churchgate.

“With career opportunities in humanities growing over the past few years and those in commerce being restricted to accounting and chartered accountancy, which is difficult to crack, students are choosing streams based on the job opportunities available,” said Thakur.

According to Thakur, students are also opting out of science to pursue humanities. “Science is getting tougher by the day and private colleges are charging high fees. Hence, students are drifting towards humanities, especially to pursue law, economics and mass media,” said Thakur.

There is also a rise in the number of high scorers opting for humanities, compared to previous years, said principals.

“During last year’s admissions, we noticed a rise in the number of students, mostly high scorers, opting for humanities. This year, our humanities’ students scored better than those in science,” said Marie Fernandes, principal, St Andrew’s College, Bandra.

Father Frazer Mascarenhas, principal, St Xavier’s College, Fort, said students were returning to basic courses in humanities. “Even though the cut-off for humanities is high, students are increasingly wanting to pursue basic courses in humanities such as psychology, sociology, economics and literature,” he said, adding “Last year, our cut-off for these subjects was above 94%.”

According to Father Mascarenhas, around 10 years ago, students were interested in professional and market-oriented courses. “But that trend is slowly changing with more students opting for humanities,” he said.