MUMBAI: Software glitches and procedural delays have hit 2.5 million students in Maharashtra, seeking admission to first year junior college (FYJC) and to professional courses, including engineering and medicine. If these issues are not sorted out in a few days, the students risk a delayed start to the 2025-26 academic year.
Confusion over FYJC admissions persists, with a fourth possible delay in the announcement of the merit list. The directorate of education, which was to release the first merit list on June 6, rescheduled its release to June 10. Then it further rescheduled the date to June 26. These unprecedented delays are impacting 1.3 million students, whose Class 10 results were announced more than a month ago.
However, sources in the department say that students will be lucky if the department sticks to this timeline as it is still struggling with software issues. Mahesh Palkar, director of secondary education, said on Wednesday, “We are making changes in the software and conducting testing on a war footing. We are trying to release the first merit list on June 26 but if that’s not be possible, we will come out with a fresh schedule on Thursday.”
The FYJC admission process was first delayed due to a suit filed my minority institutions over SC/ST/OBC reservations announced by the government for the 50% seats outside the institutions’ 50% minority quota. The Supreme Court eventually set aside the reservation, paving the way for the much-delayed FJYC admissions to get off the ground.
However, now there’s a technical snag. An education officer claimed, “After the court set aside the social reservations in minority colleges, we had to make changes in the software for the online admission process. This will take at least five to six more days.”
College principals say it’s just an excuse for a department unprepared to implement online admissions. Until last year, FYJC admissions were conducted online for colleges only in the Mumbai Metropolitan region (MMR), Pune and Nashik. This year, however, the education department has rolled out the admission process online across the state.
Mahendra Ganpule, former spokesperson of the Maharashtra State Principals Association, remarked, “They are trying to push this online admission process statewide without proper dry runs or planning. The result is confusion everywhere and students are paying the price.”
Meanwhile, although the Class 12 results were announced more than a month ago, admissions to professional undergraduate degree courses across Maharashtra have not moved forward. This delay – unprecedented for these courses – is impacting 1.2 million students seeking admission to courses such as engineering, pharmacy, agriculture, law, management, BBA and BMS, polytechnic and Industrial Training Institutes programmes.
The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell conducted more than 18 entrance tests for professional courses between March and April, and announced the results in May and June. However, the cell is yet to start the Centralised Admission Process (CAP), even as June draws to a close.
Sources said the delay relates to policy and procedural changes, which are yet to be sorted out. As a result, a timeline for application, merit lists, or admission rounds has not been announced.
For MBBS admissions, for instance, the approval process for new colleges will be underway till July 31, pausing admissions to undergraduate medical courses.
The situation is especially serious because July and August are typically reserved to complete four rounds of admissions. If the process doesn’t begin soon, the start of the academic year may be postponed to August or even September.
“There seems to be no coordination between the CET Cell, the Directorate of Technical Education, and the Higher and Technical Education Department,” said a college principal. “Each department is working in isolation, and students are suffering due to this.”
He said any further delay in classes would impact exams, which would have a cascading effect on internships, placements, and further education plans for students.