Maha govt slashes in-house quota in colleges by 50%

The Maharashtra government decided Thursday to reduce the in-house quota for FYJC admissions after SSC exams, a move that will help open category students.

Education Minister Vinod Tawde said SSC pass students will now get 7 per cent seats in the open category, after reducing the in-house quota from 20 per cent to 10 per cent in FYJC (first year junior college) admissions.

Tawde Thursday held a meeting with various education institutions having in-house quota to sort out the issue.

It was decided to slash in-house admission quota from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, resulting in 7 per cent seats for students from the open category after implementation of the new 16 per cent Maratha reservation and 10 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) and 10 per cent for economically weaker section (EWC) quota would result in no seats for open category as the share of quota would go up to 103 per cent," 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 per cent reservation while 333 junior colleges are attached to higher secondary schools.

"For all colleges that have 20 per cent in-house quota other than those colleges having minority status and following the 16 per cent Maratha and 10 per cent EWS quota, we have decided to reduce the 20 per cent in-house quota to 10 per cent to clear the way for 7 per cent seats for the open category," said Tawde.