Expect many changes in FYJC admission process for next year; booklets sent to print

Several changes are set to be introduced this year in the first year junior college (FYJC) admission process, which is expected to begin by the end of April. The admission booklets, which contains information on the admission process and have a user ID and password required by each student to register for the online process, have already been sent for printing, said officials at the education department. A special ‘zero round’ for conducting admissions to bifocal courses, no more reservation of seats under arts quota in junior colleges, a separate guidance centre specially for students who wish to take up technical- or skill development-related subjects as part of their course – these and more are set to be introduced in the coming FYJC admission process.

Class XI admissions are done through Centralised Admission Process (CAP), which is headed by the deputy director of education, Pune. It is an online process for which students have to first buy a booklet, which contains the user ID and password, fill in Part I of the form, which has personal details of students, and, after declaration of results, students fill in Part II, where they give marks-related information and select colleges of choice in order of preference.

This year, the changes begin with the admission booklet itself, said sources. “Until last year, the admission booklet not only gave detailed instructions on how to fill Part I and II of the online admission form but also had college and stream-wise information of colleges, courses and cut-off marks, which would help students select colleges of their choice. The booklet used to be of 303 pages but this year, the booklet is less than 100 pages because it does not have any details of cut-off marks. All that information is online. However, the cost of the booklet will remain same,” said a source. It is also expected that the FYJC process will begin sooner this year than the previous years and training meetings with principals and stakeholders have already started to take place.

One of the major changes this year is that admissions to bifocal seats will be taken before the CAP process begins through a zero round, and not after the process as was the practice. “There are vocational or bifocal courses offered in Science and Commerce streams. This year, we will have a zero round where first these seats would be filled up because there were complaints that they go empty, since by the time their admissions start, even willing students have taken admissions to regular courses. Also as per the GR this year, there will be no more reservation for arts quota. Earlier it used to be two per cent reservation but since students are now getting extra marks, the government notified that the quota will be stopped,” said Meenakshi Raut, assistant director of education, Pune.

Another change is that instead of nine, there would be 10 guidance centres with the last one being established specially for students who wish to take up technical subjects or skill development subjects. “Suppose a student wants to do a regular course and wants only one of the subjects from technical field, many times they miss out on the opportunity since they don’t know exactly where it is offered. For such students, a guidance centre will be set up so that they can go and inquire where their subject of choice under skill development is offered,” added Raut.
News Source (Indian Express)