Bhubaneswar: Academics blamed students for large-scale vacancies in Plus Two courses and called for the government to be innovative in the education sector to attract more students.

Over a lakh seats are lying vacant in Plus Two colleges after two rounds of admissions.

An academic said many students were applying for multiple institutes, private technical colleges and other professional courses at the same time.

"The trend to opt for alternative courses have become popular in the past two years. As a result, there are large number of vacancies. It is important for the state government to come up with ways of imparting education and courses to attract students," said academic Somali Mishra.

Online application for the second phase of Plus Two admissions to fill vacant seats in junior colleges across Odisha began on Wednesday.

Students will have to download the online application forms from the Student Academic Management System (Sams) website - www.samsodisha.gov.in - and submit it with required documents and fees at Sams centres in junior colleges on or before August 7. The merit list will be declared on August 10 while the selected students can enrol themselves from August 11 to August 14.

The government has asked principals to follow rules and admit only those students who present proper documents.