More than 70 per cent of first-year undergraduate seats in West Bengal’s state-run colleges remain vacant even after two rounds of counselling, leaving educators, students, and administrators deeply concerned.
According to the Higher Education Department, West Bengal has 9.36 lakh undergraduate seats across its state-run and state-aided colleges. Yet, despite over 4.21 lakh students registering on the centralised admission portal, only 2.69 lakh students have so far taken admission — filling just 28.81 per cent of the total seats.
The numbers are striking when compared with last year, when 4.44 lakh seats were filled in West Bengal colleges. In the first round of counselling this year, 2.30 lakh students enrolled, and in the second phase, just 39,000 more joined.
An official of the Higher Education Department admitted that while the situation seems alarming, it was “unusual but not unexpected.” He explained that delays in finalising the admission process created uncertainty among students. “Many students became apprehensive and opted instead for autonomous colleges or private institutions outside West Bengal,” the official said.
The delay largely stemmed from a prolonged legal battle over the state’s OBC reservation list. Admissions could only begin in August, after the Supreme Court stayed a Calcutta High Court order that had stalled the process. By then, many students in West Bengal had already committed elsewhere.
Colleges across West Bengal are feeling the pressure. Lady Brabourne College principal, Siuli Sarkar, said that less than half of her institute’s 630-635 seats have been filled — a scenario she described as “unusual.” She pointed out that departments like Economics and Statistics still have significant vacancies.
“I am getting emails every day from candidates who didn’t make the initial cut but are still eager to be admitted. Since the entire process was centralised this year, we can only hope the authorities in West Bengal address this problem soon,” she said. Sarkar added that apart from the OBC issue, students’ waning interest in conventional subjects has also contributed to the drop in applications.
The uncertainty has also filtered into politics. Trinamool Congress students’ wing president, Trinankur Bhattacharya, expressed optimism that things would improve after Durga Puja, with the government in West Bengal considering alternative solutions — including possibly allowing direct admissions.
“Many students were not familiar with the online procedure and might have struggled with it. Add to that the confusion around the OBC case, and some students simply turned to private institutions, both within and outside West Bengal,” he said.
Another Trinamool Chhatra Parishad leader echoed that vacant seats were not unheard of, but this year’s crisis felt especially “grave” for West Bengal.
Teachers, too, are raising red flags. West Bengal College and University Teachers’ Association (WBCUTA) member, Subhoday Dasgupta, directly blamed both the state and central governments, alleging their policies were weakening public-funded education in West Bengal.
“These vacancies are not isolated. They reflect deeper problems,” Dasgupta argued. “Pro-elite policies at both levels of government are pushing students toward private institutions and away from public colleges in West Bengal. We must see the dip in admissions through this wider prism.”
He added that dropout rates had already risen during the pandemic, and recent governance failures only worsened matters. “If public institutions in West Bengal are systematically weakened, the quality of education will continue to decline,” he said.
Dasgupta also linked the problem to a culture of fear in higher education institutions, citing the recent outcry over the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal. “A threat culture has existed in campuses for a long time, and now, with shrinking accessibility, students are further discouraged from pursuing education here.”
As the festive season approaches, the question remains: will there be another round of counselling after Durga Puja? For now, officials say it might disrupt the academic calendar. But with classrooms sitting empty, students unsure of their futures, and West Bengal’s colleges struggling to fill seats, the pressure to act is growing louder.
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