SSC students may not top first merit list
While educationists are wondering if scoring above 95% will be sufficient for SSC students to bag a seat in a college and course of their choice, they expect the national education board students to dominate the first FYJC admission list
The 3.19 lakh students from the Mumbai division who passed the secondary school certificate (SSC) exam on Monday may find it tough to get a seat in the city’s top junior colleges. Reason: there are only 2.69 lakh first year junior college (FYJC) seats on offer. Moreover, the top scores of the ICSE and CBSE board students are much higher than the SSC board students.
While educationists are wondering if scoring above 95% will be sufficient for SSC students to bag a seat in a college and course of their choice, they expect the national education board students to dominate the first FYJC admission list.
“The ICSE and CBSE board had more students scoring 95% and above. This will surely reflect in the merit lists. With the admissions going fully online this year, students will have to be very careful about the options they fill in to avoid losing out on seats in good colleges,” said Manju Nichani, principal of KC College at Churchgate.
This year, however, more students earned distinction (75% and above), which principals hope will help them get seats in the second and third merit lists.
“From a batch of 77, most students have scored distinction. The lowest scorer has also secured first class. We have 29 students scoring above 90%, but only one student has scored 95%,” said Freny Mehta, principal of Alexandra Girls’ High School in Fort.
At Swami Vivekanand School in Chembur, 94 of the 362 students scored above 90%, but barely four managed to go beyond 95%. Most CBSE and ICSE schools had pointed that at least 25% or above from their batch had scored above 95% in the boards this year. In ICSE exams, 16 students from Maharashtra had scored above 98.6%, while two students scored 99%.
“Even if the first few seats go to non-state board, SSC students can be assured that there’ll be plenty of seats left for them in colleges of their choice,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College in Bandra.