Generally in Mumbai, students who appear for class 10 or 12 exams every year opt for either State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, but some schools are affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education and ICSC Board.
Now the results of students who appeared for the 12th class examination held by the State Board have been declared, but the results of other Boards are still not declared.
This could be the first time that Mumbai University has decided to start admissions to undergraduate degree courses before the announcement of class 12 results of other boards. Until 2021, the State Board (HSC) would be the last of the board results to be announced, making way for the admissions process to UG courses to commence immediately. In a move that has surprised and shocked several first-year university aspirants, Mumbai University yesterday announced the schedule for admissions to all its affiliated colleges.
Due to a delay in conducting exams for class 12, the CBSE and ICSC boards are yet to release results.
While initially, the MU had decided to wait for all results to be announced before announcing the admission schedule, it has now decided to complete the admission form filling process by 25th June and announce the first merit list on 29th June. The circular added that “ All colleges should strictly follow the admission procedure. All colleges, including autonomous institutes, will have to admit students as per the sanctioned intake only. Colleges may get permission from MU for additional seats in excess of intake to admit CBSE and ICSE board students as per college merit cut-off in due course”.
What this means is all HSC students will get admitted to colleges as per their scores and preferences, while CBSE and ICSC students will have to approach college individually after their results are announced. What is worse is that admissions under the minority quota will also end on 25th June, as per the admission schedule.
As per sources “ Some of the top colleges with the best UG unaided courses are minority institutes, and students aim for the seats in this quota because cutoffs in the general category are very high. What happens to quota seats once the admission deadline is over? By law, the MU cannot increase quota seat intake.
While the MU circular mentions that colleges might be allowed to increase their intake capacity, it does not explain the process. Colleges just need to ensure that they maintain the general merit list cut-off and only those students who have scored above the cut-off score be allowed to apply for admission at their institute.
College heads feel this will not only add to the confusion but lead to chaos for colleges as well. Such moves will invite flak and petitions in the court, which will eventually end up delaying the admission process further. Someone at the MU needs to take the onus for such decisions, which will affect the lives of thousands of students. Many school heads feel this move will prove costly to many bright and deserving students from other boards. The system is to be blamed for the delay in results, not the students or their aspirations.
As this is DISCRIMINATORY, students may go to court over the MU admission decision.
The fact is students from CBSE and ICSC boards make up only 4-5% of total aspirants applying to MU, but they take up almost 40-50% of the seats in top colleges and in sought-after courses. Now if admissions are based on HSC only, the cut-off will be lower. A lot of CBSE and ICSC students may become eligible for these top colleges. How many students can these colleges accommodate? The should be space to run the extra division. CBSE and ICSC results are unlikely to come before 10th July.
As per experts, “ Admissions get delayed every year for various reasons, why is there a hurry to start admissions early this year? Students from other boards also residents of Maharashtra and the Govt. have to have considerations for them.
Some of the autonomous degree colleges conduct entrance tests, and some of the colleges are giving weightage to Class 12 marks, and for other colleges, the only criteria are the score of the entrance test.
In my opinion, there is going to be big chaos once the results of other boards are announced. In the meantime if someone goes to High Court (HC) and brings a stay order against this admission process initiated by MU, then what? The problem is that the 5% of students, who are not from the state board are in a position to hold MU at bay in this admission process, indirectly affecting 95% of students.
I do not understand why MU could not wait for 15-20 days more to start the admission process. The officials of MU could have spoken to officials of other boards and explained the situation, why they can not wait indefinitely and should have taken some dates from other boards for releasing the results. This arbitrary decision of MU is going to lead to more confusion and chaos.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
21st June 2022.