Maharashtra reduces in-house quota for FYJC admissions to 10% to make room for students from open category

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government decided on Thursday to reduce the in-house quota for FYJC (first year junior college), or Class XI, admissions after SSC exams, a move that will help open category students. Education Minister Vinod Tawde said SSC pass students will now get 7 percent seats in the open category, after reducing the in-house quota from 20 percent to 10 percent in FYJC admissions. Tawde on Thursday held a meeting with various education institutions having in-house quota to sort out the issue. [caption id=“attachment_5265091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] It was decided to slash in-house admission quota from 20 percent to 10 percent, resulting in 7 percent seats for students from the open category after implementation of the new 16 percent Maratha reservation and 10 percent quota for the economically weaker sections in admissions. The state also issued a government resolution (GR) in this regard, providing relief to students from the open category, as they can now apply for 7 percent seats in junior colleges attached to schools. After the meeting, Tawde appealed to parents and students not to panic as far as FYJC admission was concerned. “It was an unnecessary assumption that the new 16 percent reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) and 10 percent for economically weaker section (EWS) quota would result in no seats for open category as the share of quota would go up to 103 percent,” said Tawde. There are about 1,887 colleges in Mumbai of various streams and 639 of them have an in-house quota. Of these, 306 are of minority status and have 50 percent reservation while 333 junior colleges are attached to higher secondary schools. “For all colleges that have 20 percent in-house quota other than those colleges having minority status and following the 16 percent Maratha and 10 per cent EWS quota, we have decided to reduce the 20 per cent in-house quota to 10 percent to clear the way for 7 per cent seats for the open category,” said Tawde.