Mumbai FYJC admissions - Reservations are flawed
Education activists are concerned and have filed an intervention in the Bombay high court which says that the reservations introduced for the first-year junior college FYJC admission 2017-18 were being executed in a flawed manner.System Correcting Movement (SYSCOM), an NGO in Pune has recently filed in HC an intervention claiming that the Maharashtra education department’s new rules were causing students from the general category to lose out on seats. SYSCOM has written to education minister Vinod Tawde alleging that the education department’s new rules providing additional marks to students excelling in sports, arts and culture was not enough to get them a seat in a college of choice. For instance, benefits under the in-house quota can be used by students studying in the same management’s schools in Mumbai, but on the condition that the school must be on the same campus. Vaishali Bafna, one of the petitioners from SYSCOM said, “Such rules are totally unfair as in a city like Mumbai, institutions run by the same management could be situated in different campuses”.
She said, “According to the new rule, a student who has played a sport at the international level gets only 20 extra marks. But this is insufficient to get a seat in a college of choice because of the competition. “The special reservation for students (2% in arts and culture and 3% in sports) must instead be given on the basis of their performance in a sport or art form”.
SYSCOM has handed over the letter to the minister, saying that the department’s new rules were allowing some students to use both constitutional and special reservation benefits. “A student must be able to apply either in the SC, ST, OBC or other constitutional reservation categories, or under sports, arts or culture categories. The current seat distribution permits students to apply for both.
Moreover, Mumbai education officials said that the new rules were to be expected soon and would be implemented that will address all concerns. BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai division said, “We have received a lot of complaints over the new FYJC admission process, so we are looking into it and would soon come up with a new system”.
