AS RANDOM inspections of junior colleges were undertaken in the city following the First Junior College (FYJC) admissions to examine if the online admission method was followed or not, the inspections have revealed various things beyond simply admission-related data. There are 245 junior colleges in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, with 64,023 admissions to FYJC. For the first time, officials claim that an entirely online admissions procedure is being used. Dinkar Temkar, the deputy director of education in Pune, established teams of inspecting authorities who made random visits to junior colleges to evaluate admission data to verify the same and check for any offline admissions. According to DyDE statistics, of the 39 institutions evaluated, all FYJC admissions were determined to be performed entirely online. However, in addition to admissions, the inspection officials examined for unoccupied seats and student attendance, which was a major surprise.
In many cases, no class has been held because of 120 seats for a specific faculty, 118 seats are vacant, two students have been allotted the college through the Centralised Admission Process, and more than 50% of students have been found missing from the class at the time of inspection, indicating a high level of absenteeism. At Balaji Junior College Arts, 119 of the 120 sanctioned seats for arts faculty are unfilled, with only one admittance; a similar scenario existed at Akurdi's Dr D Y Patil Arts, Commerce, and Science Junior College, where only two seats out of 120 were filled. In some cases, students were found bunking lectures in large numbers, such as at St Mira's Girls Junior College, where only 48 students in Arts (English) were present on the day of inspection, or at Karve Nagar's Mahila Ashram High School and Junior College, where only 13 students out of 113 admitted students in Arts (Marathi) were present. We have encouraged universities to make efforts, including counseling students and parents, to ensure students attend classes when they are absent in large numbers. We have also directed cops to return and ensure that absenteeism is reduced. "We are relieved that no offline admissions were discovered during the inspections," Temkar stated.
