SSC students lose out at city’s top colleges

State board students make up the majority of those admitted to junior colleges in Mumbai, but they represent a small percentage in the 10 most sought-after city colleges.

State board students make up the majority of those admitted to junior colleges in Mumbai, but they represent a small percentage in the 10 most sought-after city colleges.

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Data accessed from the state’s school education department shows that while 95% SSC students took admission through the online process this year, the state board representation in the top 10 colleges was 73%. In case of CBSE and ICSE students, who made up for just 5% of the total students admitted to colleges, the percentage in the 10 most sought-after colleges was much higher at 27%.

“In the last two years, SSC students had done well. But this time, the ICSE numbers have grown and SSC students have lost out in the premium South Mumbai colleges,” said Jyoti Thakur, vice-principal, Jai Hind College at Churchgate.

Though students from all board are eligible for the best-five scheme, which was introduced in 2010, and additional sports marks for a level-playing field, state board students performed poorly. The number of students scoring 90% and above fell to 7,459 from 14,523 last year.

In 2008, the state government introduced a percentile formula for normalising scores across boards followed by introduction of the 90:10 reservation policy in 2009.

The data collected from the education department covered all streams and the colleges that were considered the most sought-after were KC College, Jai Hind College, St Xavier's College, SIES College, Sathaye College, NM College, Mithibai College, Ruia College, Ruparel College and HR College.