Only days since the declaration of SSLC results, apprehension over availability of Plus One higher secondary seats in Malabar is building. Students, parents, and teachers are worried if they will find admission in the school and course of their choice.
As many as 4,24,772 students became eligible for higher studies in the State after appearing for the SSLC examinations.
The actual availability of Plus One seats in the State is 3,59,507. Add to this 11,965 seats in the 178 batches temporarily sanctioned and those shifted in the past two years. The increase in seats through marginal increase of 20% to 30% is 61,759.
The department claims that this takes the total number of higher secondary seats to 4,33,231. However, even as it puts forward this number, what is neglected is that this includes the seats not only in government and aided sectors, but 54,986 unaided seats too.
Each year, the department fails to mention that when it claims adequate Plus One seats are available, it includes unaided sector seats too when the single-window admission is held to all seats in government schools and seats other than community and management quota seats in aided schools. Moreover, a large number of unaided sector seats remain vacant each year.
The number of seats available in the government sector this year is 1,83,135 and that in the aided sector 1,95,110, taking the total to 3,78,345.
The department also cites the 33,030 vocational higher secondary (VHSE) seats, 61,429 ITI seats and 9,990 polytechnic seats to claim that the total number of seats available for higher education in the State is 5,37,680.
In Malappuram, where 79,730 students became eligible for higher studies, the number of higher secondary seats available is 33,925 in the government sector and 25,765 in the aided sector, taking the total to 59,690. The applicants from CBSE, ICSE and other boards will increase the demand for seats here.
Last year, 25,350 CBSE students 2,627 ICSE students had applied for higher secondary admission in the State.
According to the Malabar Education Movement, Malappuram and Palakkad districts have a shortage of 14,870 and 2,366 Plus One seats.
Teachers’ organisations point out that while districts such as Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha even had batches with less than 25 students, in Malappuram and other Malabar districts, higher secondary batches in government schools had 65 students and those in aided schools 60. Every student in the State should have the same right to education, they point out.
The Kerala Higher Secondary Teachers’ Union said that instead of allowing marginal seat increase that resulted in a class size swelling to 60 or 65 students in classrooms that were more often than not suited to high school, sanctioning additional batches and appointing guest teachers would help prevent a drop in quality.
It demanded that the class strength be capped at 50. The new curriculum had a learner-centred, process-oriented, and issue-based approach, and for activities to be taken up on the basis of this, the optimum class size was 50.
