Mumbai: Junior college teachers across Maharashtra are scheduled to hold a ‘Dharna Satyagraha’ on 6 March, protesting the recent decision to conduct the admissions process for class 11 online. The Maharashtra State Junior College Teachers Federation argues that transitioning to an online admissions system will significantly delay the start of the academic year, leading to a loss of nearly two months of education for students.

The Federation contends that this decision will adversely affect students’ education. Under the offline process, admissions are typically completed in June, allowing classes to commence in July. However, with the shift to an online system, the academic year may not begin until August or September, causing a considerable academic loss.

In rural areas, where there is no competitive rush for admissions, this new system could prompt students to move away from state board schools, thereby reducing the government’s expenditure on grant-in-aid schools.

The state government recently announced plans to extend the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) for class 11, also known as the first year of junior college (FYJC), across the entire state. Previously, this system was limited to five urban regions: Amravati, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune-Pimpri Chinchwad, and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

However, junior college teachers have voiced their concerns regarding this decision. Mukund Andhalkar, a member of the Maharashtra State Junior College Teachers Federation, criticised the move as “completely unnecessary.”

He explained that the government already permits colleges to fill open seats independently towards the end of the admissions cycle, requiring only that these admissions be reported in the online system.

Consequently, parents who want to send online applications wait until the last minute to secure admission into their preferred colleges. “This defeats the purpose of making the centralised online admission system universal across the state,” he added.

The planned protest will be held in front of tehsildar offices, district collector offices, the Education Commissioner’s office in Pune, and the state legislature in Mumbai. Following this dharna, the Federation also intends to launch a statewide agitation on 12th March to further press for their demands.

In addition to protesting the online admissions process, the Federation claims that several other long-standing demands remain unmet. These include providing salary grades to IT subject teachers by including them in grant-in-aid posts, implementing the 10-20-30 years in-service assured promotion scheme for teachers and extending the old pension scheme universally to all teachers.