Bhubaneswar: Amid apprehension of scarcity of seats among the recently-passed Class 10 students, the Odisha Government on Monday assured them of smooth and hassle-free enrolment at higher secondary schools and technical institutions.
Hinting at increasing seats at some particular institutions having high demand of students, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash on Monday said that students would not face any such situation arising out of seat scarcity.
The government would take necessary measures for the enrolment of students if shortage of seats in any colleges arises, he added.
“The results of CBSE and ISCE are yet to be announced. Once the results are out, government would take appropriate measures for their enrolment. No students would suffer due to scarcity of seats,” Dash said.
“There were instances of increasing seats at reputed institutions including Ravenshaw in Cuttack, BJB in Bhubaneswar, Puri SCS, Bolangir Rajendra College and others when applications outnumber the seats as students are always keen on taking admission at renowned colleges/schools. Seat hike also took place in 2 fs018-19 and 2019-20 due to heavy inflow of the applications,” he said.
In view of huge applications, hike of seats is also made in other States, he maintained.
The Minister further said that the State has availability of 6.3 lakh seats in various government and private colleges and technical institutes.
Shortage of seats in higher secondary schools and technical institutes under School and Mass Education Department looms large given the high pass percentage in the matriculation exam this year.
The State has around 6.3 lakh seats in Plus 2 colleges (higher secondary schools), ITIs and Diploma institutions. However, 6.17 lakh students have passed the Class X exams apart from students from CBSE and ICSE boards.
The high pass rate has left over 24, 000 students worried about their admission possibilities.
The issues of seat shortage can be sorted out if the government effects 10 per cent seat increase locally based on the demand for admission. If it is done, more students can be accommodated at colleges in their own locality and don’t have to move to other districts, educationists opined.
