Mumbai: Delhi, pilot, death, murderFresh out of school, Esha and her friends were confident of getting into a college of their choice. Both scored a distinction in their Class X ICSE exams.
But the Maharashtra government's decision to reserve 90 per cent junior college seats for the state's SSC board has come as a shock. The move is now being challenged in court.
"Reservations are usually for minorities. But here they are being given to the majority students," said Neha, an ICSE student.
Maharashtra, however, says its decision is based on numbers. The state has 15 lakh SSC students and out of them only 20,000 students are from national boards like CBSE and ICSE.
Since national boards have a tougher curriculum, colleges are lenient with their scores. And they end up getting into better colleges.
"ICSE students get to calculate their percentage from the five best subjects. So their scores are higher than ours," said Aishwarya Patwardhan, an SSC student.
Many feel the government's decision to favour the state board has been taken with an eye on the Maharashtra elections. But the court still has to hear the case and with admissions around the corner, the fate of hundreds of students remains undecided.