Few takers for bifocal courses

Out of 5,525 seats available for bifocal courses,4,647 seats are meant for table admission. Of these,1,522 remained vacant at the end of the counseling-based table round allotment process. Centralised Admission Process (CAP) officials had received over 5,000 applications for bifocal courses in trades like computer science,electronics,information technology,scooter motor servicing,electrical and mechanical maintenance.

While vocational education officials attribute the drop in popularity of the course to higher fees in private colleges,students say the course has ‘limited prospects’.

According to deputy district vocational officer D C Nevase,most of the vacant seats are in reserved quota.

“Of 1,522 seats that remained vacant 1,013 seats fall under the reserved category,including 246 seats for SC candidates,271 for ST,270 for VJNT category and 199 for OBC.

Last year,over 750 seats had remained vacant.

Vocational education officials say students opt for only certain schools and do not prefer to go to private institutions because of higher fees charged by them.

“This year,the number of seats for bifocal courses has gone up by 6,50. But parents and students are preferring only some well known colleges. The seats that are vacant are mostly at private colleges where the fees for these courses are higher (Rs 35,000 to 40,000 per annum) than general streams. Students,especially those belonging to backward categories,many a times,can’t afford the fees,” said Nevase.

Radhika Jadhav was planning to take admission for electronics but finally decided against it.

She said,“Bifocal courses limit choices of students after Class XII. For instance,a student who has studied bifocal science course would not be able to opt for biomedical engineering,biotechnology and microbiology subjects.

As the students are realising this downside,the popularity of the bifocal courses is waning.”