Plus II Seats In Odisha Are Going Vacant. Why?

Bhubaneswar: The huge vacancy of seats in the Plus II streams in Odisha in the current academic session has become a matter of grave concern for the state government.

As per data available with the Directorate of Higher Education, there are a total of 4,48,451 Plus II seats for Science, Arts, Commerce and Vocational Education in 1984 junior colleges in Odisha. However, after the first-phase admission this year, 1,31,776 seats have fallen vacant. Taking note of the situation, the School and Mass Education Department will have no choice but to go for the second-phase admission to bring down the number of vacant seats to some extent. Going by the trend and the mindset of the students, the number of vacant seats will remain close to one lakh after the second phase.

This is not the first time in Odisha that such a large number of seats in the Plus II streams have fallen vacant. The fact is that this trend started five years back.

What are the reasons?
Some students said that since they are not getting the opportunity to study in their favourite college or choose their subject, they are opting for technical education like polytechnic, ITI etc. Besides, lack of proper infrastructure in some junior colleges is the other reason, they added.

What are the remedies?

Talking about the solution, well-known educationists in the state have said that the state government must keep an eye on the non-forming private colleges.

“The government must keep a close watch on private colleges with regard to the number of students and their performance. Colleges having a handful of students with dismal pass percentage must be shortlisted and closed down with a show-cause notice. As a result, the number of vacant seats in other colleges will be filled up and the concerned authorities will try their best to improve the quality of education,” said educationist Kamal Prasad Mahapatra.

Going by the results of the annual Matric examinations this year, out of 3,96,873 students, who had cleared the examinations, 2,78,783 have taken admission in the Plus II streams, 10,976 in ITI and 17,561 in diploma courses.