Maha’s ambitious FYJC CAP attempt fails, puts academic year at risk

The FYJC common admission process in Maharashtra has caused confusion, leaving thousands of rural students without college admissions and jeopardizing their academic year.

PUNE: While it was intended to streamline first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions across the state, the education department’s ambitious common admission process (CAP) has instead led to unprecedented confusion, leaving academic sessions in jeopardy and thousands of students stranded.

Maha’s ambitious FYJC CAP attempt fails, puts academic year at risk

The FYJC CAP, which began in October 2025, was supposed to cover 2,175,598 available seats in 9,551 junior colleges across the state. Despite four main CAP rounds and over nine special rounds however, roughly 827,787 seats remain unfilled as of mid-December. A final, special round is underway but many students, especially from rural areas, are still without admission.

Former president of the Maharashtra Junior College Principals’ Association, Mahendra Ganpule, told Hindustan Times, “The CAP might function in metro cities like Mumbai and Pune where digital infrastructure exists, but it has failed miserably in rural areas. Many students are unaware of the technicalities of online admission which has left them completely out of the process.”

“A staggering 175 junior colleges in the Vidarbha region did not admit a single student this year, while more than 500 colleges enrolled fewer than 15 students. Nagpur city witnessed the largest number of vacant seats, followed by Wardha, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Gondia. The lack of admissions has caused widespread concern among educators and parents alike,” Ganpule said, criticising the decision to conduct special rounds after the ATKT (allowed to keep terms) results. With nearly seven out of the 10 months of the class 11 academic year already spent on admissions, the prospect of completing the syllabus within the remaining three months seems nearly impossible. Unit tests as well as portions of the curriculum have already been completed, leaving late-admitted students at a severe disadvantage.

“Students admitted in December will have only a few months to cover the entire class 11 syllabus. This will undoubtedly affect their conceptual foundation, which is critical for the upcoming HSC board examinations,” Ganpule said.

According to many parents, adopting a decentralised model for rural areas while limiting the CAP to metros could have prevented the chaos.

A teacher from Modern College said, “I was travelling in an auto-rickshaw to college when the driver requested me, ‘Sir, my daughter wants to take admission to class 11 but we don’t know how to carry out the process. Can you please help us with how to enrol and fill in the form?’ I felt helpless in that situation. There are numerous cases like this of people who don’t know the process. This is the real condition on the ground.”

While the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (DSHSE), Maharashtra, has announced another special round on December 12, stating that more than 1,000 students are still without admission, continuous delays have already disrupted academic schedules significantly.

Director Mahesh Palkar said, “Admissions are still in process for FYJC students. They were given time to register until December 17. Now, the rounds will be declared and the allotment process will begin, similar to the regular CAP rounds. More than 800 students were still remaining so we conducted this round. We are trying our best to give admission to every student. Our aim is that no one should be left without admission.”

Ganpule cautioned, “The education department should learn from this experience. Online CAP works for cities but in villages, it is a recipe for disaster. We must protect students from losing their academic year.”