Finding a way out for the admission mismatch

The new issue that has arisen primarily in finding seats for all the students who have passed the Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate, that saw record over 99 per cent pass percentage, resulting in a mismatch between seats available and students eligible.
It was expected that the government would increase the capacity for Class XI for the current academic year given the record pass percentage that was achieved at the Class X, where an unprecedented 99.64 per cent passed the exam. Given that the seat availability in the State is 18,930 in all streams and that 23,900 students cleared the Class X exam, there would be almost 5000 students who would not find a seat in Class XI purely because of non-availability. With the intervention of parents and students, the government, as already assured in the House, has now increased the capacity in the higher secondary schools, by issuing a circular directing the schools to do so.
Increasing the number of admissions by 15 per cent will reduce the number of students who will remain without a seat, but will not ensure that every student who passed Class X will get admitted to Class XI. The shortage between available seats and eligible students is approximately 5000, while the 15 per cent increase will add 2840 seats, that could still leave over 2100 students without seats in the general streams. The increased seats may suffice if a number of students who after their Class X opt to continue their education through the industrial training institutes (ITI) by taking technical courses.
The shortage of seats is not restricted to Class XI but there are similar issues for the first year of the bachelor’s degree courses too, as the Class XII results also showed a record over 99 per cent pass percentage when 18,085 students passed following the internal assessment system. Colleges should be starting the second round of admissions this week for the general streams, after 11,500 were admitted in the first round. Again, even with students opting for professional courses there will be a few who will not get admission in college as the number of seats is less than the number of eligible students.
While the government and the Education Department have solved the issue by allowing schools to increase intake, has there been any study on the available infrastructure in the higher secondary schools to accommodate the increased number of students? A larger number of students will put additional pressure on the infrastructure of schools and while this may have been permitted for Class XI this year, it will have to be also sanctioned for the Class XII next year. Currently, schools may not face the infrastructure problem as classes are being held online, but with colleges permitted to have physical classes from next month, schools too will follow suit in the months ahead.
Besides, the circular from the Education Department is clear that increasing the number of seats in higher secondaries, however, won’t make the schools eligible for any additional financial grants or incentives or even for recruitment of teachers. The schools will have to manage with the same amount of grants and the staff they have at present. The pressure, therefore, will be not just on the infrastructure but also on the teaching staff and the finances. This is just a temporary solution to accommodating the students in the next class. What is required is a permanent solution or, is it that the department expects a drop in the pass percentage once teaching moves to the classroom again?