Mumbai: From the coming academic session 2025-26, first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions, which were previously conducted online only in the municipal areas of MMRDA, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Amravati, Nagpur, and Nashik, will now be implemented across the state. A govt resolution issued on Saturday also mentioned that admissions across the state will be centrally conducted and online until the last student gets a seat. Until now, the five divisions were independently conducting admissions for their own regions. While the resolution talks about providing training videos to students and parents for a smooth process, there are apprehensions over the delayed decision, a central process, and also over the inclusion of rural colleges.
The govt has been contemplating a centralised online admission process for FYJC, considering its utility and aiming to enhance the ease of living for students and parents by saving time, money, and effort. The deputy directors of school education in all the eight divisions have been asked to verify the information provided by junior colleges, including the branch-wise divisions, aided, unaided, class-wise and branch-wise intake capacity, available subjects, and provide it to the designated online service provider. The GR mentions that FYJC classes should commence after the completion of the regular four rounds, and the subsequent rounds should be open to all at the college level and should be based on merit.
An educationist, however, mentioned that the govt should have taken the decision around Oct or Nov as the tendering process, information collection, and training will take time. “Especially now when the govt is planning to include all junior colleges, even the ones in the rural areas. Just for the convenience of the process in cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur, the govt may end up inconveniencing students and colleges in the rural areas. Also, including colleges across the state on one platform will cause chaos as there have been plenty of cases in the past where students get confused between similar-sounding names of colleges while filling their choices and then land up with wrong colleges,” he said.
A govt official, however, said that there is enough time for the implementation and the training. The existing software used for some of the cities will be extended to the whole state, he said, adding that the software will have enough filters for students to fill their choices and to avoid confusion. “Students from across the state, even rural areas, do fill the CET forms online and also give the exams online. So, we are hoping for it to be a smooth process. We will engage volunteers in rural areas to help students on the ground and also conduct training workshops,” said the official.