Principals Pick Up Pieces After Admissions Limp Back On Track. Those Who Implemented Quota Face Tough Decisions
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Junior colleges could have resumed admissions on Monday itself, according to state education secretary Sanjay Kumar. After the government withdrew its decision to implement 70% district-wise reservations, resulting in the lifting of the Bombay High Court stay on admissions, Kumar said admissions could have reopened the same day.
However, college principals told TOI they were waiting for instructions from the state
government before they knew how to proceed. When Kumar was informed of this, he said a circular would be sent to colleges on Monday evening. Till 7pm, many principals said they were still awaiting the circular. It is expected they will receive the communication by Tuesday morning, by which time admission counters would reopen.
The first order of business would be to finalise admissions on the third merit list. After that, several colleges are expected to put out their fourth lists on Tuesday evening itself.
HR College of Commerce and Economics principal Indu Shahani said that she would start admissions only after receiving instructions from the deputy director of education’s office, as she needed some clarity on how to proceed with the process. Jai Hind College principal Kirti Narain said her college would admit students short-listed in the third list from Tuesday.
Dilemma for a few
While the outcome of the case has come as a relief to most colleges, which are at the tail-end of their admissions, it has brought added confusion to a handful of colleges that actually took the trouble to implement the 70% reservation in their second and third merit lists. Most city colleges simply ignored the rule altogether.
“Those colleges that implemented the 70:30 policy are free to do whatever they want. They can continue with the fourth and fifth merit lists or they can redo the second and third lists for which they implemented the quota,’’ Kumar said.
Colleges that implemented the 70:30 quota, however, are not too thrilled with the decision to put the ball in their court. “The government should have decided on whether we should redo admissions or go ahead with the process, and how. If we take the decision on our own, we will be criticised irrespective of what our decision will be,’’ said one principal.
The principal added that redoing admissions for the second and third lists is not a good option. “That would mean telling students who have already made it to college based on the 70% quota that they will have to give up their seats. This would cause chaos,’’ said the principal.
Principals said the next thing they can do is continue with admissions by using the cut-off for the 70% as the overall cut-off. However, this figure is lower than the 30% cut-off, so several students who have a percentile over the 70% cut-off have to be admitted before the fourth list is made. “The government would have to sanction extra seats to accommodate students. So we’re caught in a dilemma right now,’’ said another principal.
State’s catch-22
When asked why the state government decided to withdraw its own decision to introduce the 70:30 quota system, Kumar said it was because admissions were almost complete. When asked why the government implemented it in the first place, he said the state was caught in a catch-22 situation.
“There is a 2003 government resolution on the 70:30 policy. This year, we received complaints that the reservation was not being followed. We had to issue circulars to colleges asking them to implement it. Otherwise we could have been taken to court for not following our own GR,’’ said Kumar.
On to academics
St Xavier’s College went ahead with its orientation programme on Monday. HR College will hold warm-up sessions for first-year students on Wednesday and Thursday. Orientation will be on Friday and Saturday. Classes will begin as per schedule on July 21.
However, college principals told TOI they were waiting for instructions from the state
government before they knew how to proceed. When Kumar was informed of this, he said a circular would be sent to colleges on Monday evening. Till 7pm, many principals said they were still awaiting the circular. It is expected they will receive the communication by Tuesday morning, by which time admission counters would reopen.
The first order of business would be to finalise admissions on the third merit list. After that, several colleges are expected to put out their fourth lists on Tuesday evening itself.
HR College of Commerce and Economics principal Indu Shahani said that she would start admissions only after receiving instructions from the deputy director of education’s office, as she needed some clarity on how to proceed with the process. Jai Hind College principal Kirti Narain said her college would admit students short-listed in the third list from Tuesday.
Dilemma for a few
While the outcome of the case has come as a relief to most colleges, which are at the tail-end of their admissions, it has brought added confusion to a handful of colleges that actually took the trouble to implement the 70% reservation in their second and third merit lists. Most city colleges simply ignored the rule altogether.
“Those colleges that implemented the 70:30 policy are free to do whatever they want. They can continue with the fourth and fifth merit lists or they can redo the second and third lists for which they implemented the quota,’’ Kumar said.
Colleges that implemented the 70:30 quota, however, are not too thrilled with the decision to put the ball in their court. “The government should have decided on whether we should redo admissions or go ahead with the process, and how. If we take the decision on our own, we will be criticised irrespective of what our decision will be,’’ said one principal.
The principal added that redoing admissions for the second and third lists is not a good option. “That would mean telling students who have already made it to college based on the 70% quota that they will have to give up their seats. This would cause chaos,’’ said the principal.
Principals said the next thing they can do is continue with admissions by using the cut-off for the 70% as the overall cut-off. However, this figure is lower than the 30% cut-off, so several students who have a percentile over the 70% cut-off have to be admitted before the fourth list is made. “The government would have to sanction extra seats to accommodate students. So we’re caught in a dilemma right now,’’ said another principal.
State’s catch-22
When asked why the state government decided to withdraw its own decision to introduce the 70:30 quota system, Kumar said it was because admissions were almost complete. When asked why the government implemented it in the first place, he said the state was caught in a catch-22 situation.
“There is a 2003 government resolution on the 70:30 policy. This year, we received complaints that the reservation was not being followed. We had to issue circulars to colleges asking them to implement it. Otherwise we could have been taken to court for not following our own GR,’’ said Kumar.
On to academics
St Xavier’s College went ahead with its orientation programme on Monday. HR College will hold warm-up sessions for first-year students on Wednesday and Thursday. Orientation will be on Friday and Saturday. Classes will begin as per schedule on July 21.
STATE OF UNCERTAINTY: Many junior colleges wore a deserted look on Monday as principals awaited government instructions
ADMISSIONS UNLOCKED: Aspirants are expected to resume doing the rounds of junior colleges today
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