Centralised FYJC Admissions Hit Roadblocks, Thousands of Seats Still Empty in Pune Colleges

Pune, 6th September 2025: Maharashtra’s first attempt to run a fully centralised online admission process for first-year junior colleges (FYJC, Class XI) has faced major roadblocks, with more than three months passing since the SSC results and lakhs of seats still lying vacant.

Data from the state education department shows that of the 21.5 lakh seats available in 9,500 junior colleges across Maharashtra, only 13.4 lakh have been filled so far. This means over 8 lakh seats — nearly 38 percent — remain unclaimed despite multiple admission rounds. To address the shortfall, the department has now rolled out a final “special round” of admissions, open until September 9.

The SSC results were declared on May 13, with a statewide pass percentage of 94.1 percent. A total of 15.46 lakh students cleared the exam this year, including 7.6 lakh boys and 6.95 lakh girls. Yet, the ambitious single-window admission portal has not been able to channel all these students smoothly into colleges.

While officials maintain that the online system has brought more transparency, many students, parents, and educators argue that execution gaps have caused significant inconvenience. A senior administrator of a well-known Pune junior college remarked, “We had cases where students scoring above 90 percent ended up in unaided divisions simply because their forms were filled incorrectly at cyber cafés. The delay in resolving grievances has added unnecessary expenses for families.”

The principal of another city college agreed that the concept itself was sound but criticised its weak implementation. “The idea of a centralised admission platform is progressive, but it needs a responsive interface. Students should be able to correct errors in real time, and helplines must resolve complaints within hours rather than days,” she said.

Parents too have shared their struggles. Sushma Kharat, from Ahilyanagar, recounted how her son’s preferences did not reflect on the system during the first round. “We raised the issue, but by the time the problem was addressed, my son had already missed out on the merit list. We kept applying in the following rounds, but nothing worked out. Now, we are left hoping that the special round will finally get him a seat,” she said.

Students have also faced setbacks. Akanksha Varpe, a student from rural Pune, explained that she initially made errors while submitting her form and later changed her stream preference from science to arts. “I had to restart the entire process and finally managed to get admission in August in the college I wanted. But the stress and delays were overwhelming,” she said.

Education policy experts warn that without timely intervention, the problem will only worsen. “Last year Pune alone had over 42,000 vacant seats. The system must become faster and also allow offline assistance for students in exceptional situations. Otherwise, we risk wasting valuable time for both colleges and students,” one expert observed.

According to the state’s revised schedule, students participating in the final round can submit their preferences until September 6, while allotments will be published on September 8. Those offered seats must confirm admissions by September 9.