E-admission in progress at Khallikot College in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Aug. 8: Government and aided colleges here have failed to get enough students after the first phase of e-admission into Plus Two classes.

In seven government and aided colleges, 604 seats are still lying vacant. Against 2,864 seats available in these colleges, only 2,260 have been filled up.

In Khallikote Junior College, 321 students were admitted in the arts stream according to the first merit list. The arts stream has 432 seats. The cut-off percentage was 46.83.

In science, 43 seats are lying vacant while in commerce, 58 seats are yet to be filled up. The cut-off percentage in science and commerce was 84.67 and 67, respectively.

At Sashi Bhushan Women’s College, 219 students were admitted into arts in the first round of admissions and 37 seats are lying vacant. The qualifying percentage was fixed at 51.17. In science, 109 students, who cleared the cut-off marks of 82 per cent, were admitted against 128 seats.

In other colleges, too, a number of seats are yet to be filled up in the second phase of junior college admission. In Binayak Acharya Junior College, 46 seats in arts, 19 seats in science and 33 seats in commerce are still vacant.

The City Junior College has 51 vacancies in arts. In science and commerce, 29 and 17 seats, respectively, are yet to be filled up. In the Mahamayee Junior Women’s College, 225 students were admitted into arts while there are 256 seats in total, 104 students were enrolled against 128 seats in science, while 111 students took admission in commerce against the total availability of 128 seats.

In two other colleges, Deccan Junior College and Suprava Devi Junior Women’s College, seats in arts are up for grabs. While the former has 46 vacant seats, the latter has 26.

The authorities of these colleges, however, are hopeful that all vacancies would be filled up during the second round of admission scheduled to be held on August 16 and 17.

“We are confident that we would find takers for the vacant seats. Moreover, the e-admission process for Plus Two and Plus Three classes has resulted in cent per cent transparency. Since all details of the applicants are uploaded on the college website, the workload on part of the college has reduced to a great extent,” said Bibekananda Panda, principal of Khallikote Junior College.

Sashi Bhushan Women’s College principal Sasadhar Samal said the system of online admissions has done a world of good to applicants, parents and teachers but there are certain concerns that need to be addressed.

“The government must undertake broad-based programmes on e-admissions, especially in rural areas, as several students are not computer and internet-savvy. But the biggest advantage of the online process is that applicants can get details about any junior college they wish to apply to from the higher education department’s website,” Samal said.