The number of Plus One higher secondary seats in the State has increased to 4,23,315, an increase of 62,775 seats.
This follows Cabinet approval for marginal increase of up to 30% in Plus One seats in seven districts on Wednesday. Eighty-one temporary batches sanctioned last year for the single-window admission will continue in the 2023-24 academic year.
The initial number of Plus One seats across government, aided, and unaided sectors in the State was 3.6 lakh.
Nod was given for continuing 81 batches, including 18 Science batches, 49 Humanities batches, and eight Commerce batches retained in the 2022-23 academic year. Two temporarily sanctioned Science batches, one each Commerce and Humanities batch that were temporarily shifted, and one Commerce and Humanities temporary batch allotted to KKN Pariyaram Smaraka, Kannur, are included in this.
A marginal seat increase of 30% has been allowed in government higher secondary schools in seven districts — Thiruvananthapuram and the northern districts of Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod. Aided higher secondary schools in these districts will get a marginal seat increase of 20%.
Aided higher secondary schools that seek more seats will be allowed a further 10% marginal seat increase.
Government and aided higher secondary schools in Kollam, Ernakulam, and Thrissur districts will get a marginal increase of 20%.
Meanwhile, the Higher Secondary School Teachers’ Association has criticised the decision to effect marginal seat increase instead of sanctioning batches in districts experiencing seat shortage.
Terming it unscientific, the association said the marginal increase would result in classrooms packed with 65 to 70 students, affecting quality of education. The need was for sanctioning more batches, as recommended by the V. Karthikeyan Nair-led committee that was constituted by the government itself to study batch reorganisations. However, the panel report had been kept in abeyance.
