Mumbai, August 10: After months of waiting and confusion, here’s some good news for junior college students. The state school education department has directed colleges across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to scrap the first unit test usually held in August. The decision comes as a relief for colleges which were contemplating cancelling vacations to conduct these tests. Now, junior colleges will directly conduct the first terminal examinations in October. Also, while several colleges such as KC, HR and Jaihind at Churchgate have already commenced regular lectures, many suburban junior colleges will have their orientation on Monday.
The online admission process, which commenced in the last week of June, went on till August first week delaying the start of the academic year by a month. In an academic year, students must be tested for 300 marks: two terminal exams for 100 marks each and two unit tests for 50 marks each.”We have been told to scrap the first unit test and conduct the terminal exams. The second unit test, which will be held after the Diwali vacations, will be for 50 marks but it will be converted to 100 marks,” said TA Shiware, principal of Hinduja College. “This way, we make up for the absence of the first unit test’s marks.”
Meanwhile, the offline admission, for which the merit list will be put up on Monday by 11am, will be completed by Wednesday. Fees can be paid on Monday and Tuesday. “We have also been asked to give admission on priority basis to those students who have not secured any seat. Also those who have failed to secure a seat even though their names have appeared on the online lists should be considered for a seat,” said KA Vishwanathan, trustee of SIES colleges.
Deputy director VK Wankhede held a meeting at Ruia College on Sunday with representatives of junior colleges to discuss the offline admission process. “We have instructed colleges to help students who have low scores by directing them to those colleges which have low cut-offs,” he said.
–Agencies