Class 11 should begin on July 1: admissions panel

If you’re a student seeking admission to a junior college in Mumbai, you will be able to attend the first lecture of Class 11 on July 1, 2012, if the recommendations by a committee looking into the procedure for online admissions are approved.

If you’re a student seeking admission to a junior college in Mumbai, you will be able to attend the first lecture of Class 11 on July 1, 2012, if the recommendations by a committee looking into the procedure for online admissions are approved.

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The committee was formed after the three-year-old junior college online system came in for flak. It is headed by principal secretary (education) Sanjay Kumar, and includes representatives from the education department, colleges and MKCL, the company providing the software for online admissions. The committee met at Mantralaya on Friday and discussed the delays that dogged the online admissions procedure during 2011.

"We told the government that a system which was supposed to make the procedure faster took 45 days to complete the process. Ideally, it should have taken 20 days. Students attended class only in September as opposed to July 1, which was the date when the online procedure was in place," Vikram Karandikar, a professor from Ruia college, who is on the committee, pointed out.

Another issue highlighted by Kiran Mangaonkar, principal of Mithibai College, was that many students take provisional admissions, only to back out later, making it difficult for colleges to assess their merit lists. "We have proposed that the fee for provisional forms, which is currently Rs50, should be increased substantially. This will ensure that students make some firm decisions.

We suggested that the fee could be refunded from the actuals later," he said.

The committee suggested that the overall fee for online admissions should also be increased substantially from the current Rs150.

Principals have also suggested that another area that needs to be looked into urgently is that of students opting for bi-focal subjects. This should be treated separately at the college level, and they should seek admissions through the general category, after which the college will make a list for bi-focals, it has been suggested.

“The suggestions have been made by experts, and were discussed today. We will have another round of discussions next week, after which a final suggestion list will be given to the education minister” Kumar said.