The Mumbai University’s decision to begin admissions to undergraduate courses without CBSE and ICSE students has caused major panic and confusion. While students and parents are worried about missing out on equal admission opportunity, the different admission processes adopted by city colleges is expected to cause more confusion.
The Mumbai University on Monday evening issued a circular of schedule for degree admissions, indicating the beginning of the process, even though CBSE and ICSE Class 12 results have not been declared yet.
Junior colleges offering Class 12 in CBSE and ICSE curriculum have started receiving frantic calls from students and parents after they got to know about the circular. “Students and parents are understandably anxious regarding degree admissions,” said the principal of a popular CBSE junior college from the suburbs.
“This is totally unfair. There has already been much ambiguity throughout the academic year due to the pandemic,” said Aditi Jha, a student who has appeared for CBSE Class 12 exam.
“This one time when HSC result is declared sooner, CBSE and ICSE students are left behind for no fault of theirs,” said a parent from a suburban junior college, adding that currently parents are in the process of uniting before a further plan of action is decided.
Due to the pandemic, both these boards implemented a new pattern of two-term exams, instead of one exam held annually. The second term exam was completed just a few days ago in June and the results are awaited.
“After the pandemic, the entire academic year is in a stage of recovery. It is unfair to leave a set of students behind to start admissions sooner. They too have equal rights to compete for seats in colleges of their choice,” said Kalpana Dwivedi, principal of Bal Bharati School, which offers CBSE curriculum. While the circular is being heavily criticised for being unfair and discriminatory, city colleges in city have taken different approaches to the admission process, which many fear is going to cause more confusion.
For instance, K C College has decided to go ahead as per the varsity’s schedule and conduct a second phase of admissions after the CBSE and ICSE board results are out. “Based on statistics of the past few years, we can estimate the number of seats to be kept aside for the second phase of admissions,” said Dr Hemlata Bagla, vice-chancellor of HSNC University and Principal of K C College.
According to authorities of N M College, where except the traditional BCom course, all other admissions will be based on entrance tests, the varsity’s circular does not have a major impact.
