Kerala's Education Minister, V Sivankutty, announced the allocation of 138 additional Class XI (plus one) batches in government schools across Malappuram and Kasaragod districts.
This decision comes in response to a shortfall in available seats after the conclusion of all regular admission rounds.
Addressing the Shortfall:
The minister announced in the Kerala Legislative Assembly that there is a need to address the unfulfilled enrollment requests from students in these two northern districts. The additional batches will be divided into streams, with 59 dedicated to Humanities and 61 to Commerce in Malappuram alone. Kasaragod will receive 18 additional batches, focusing primarily on Commerce (13 batches) with extra support for Humanities (4 batches) and Science (1 batch), as reported by Edex Live.
Financial Implications and Prior Efforts:
Creating these new batches is estimated to cost the state government approximately Rs 14.9 crore. Minister Sivankutty elaborated on previous efforts to prevent this shortage. In May, the government authorized the retention of 178 provisional batches allocated in the last academic year. Additionally, a 30% increase in available seats was mandated across all government schools in the Malabar region, which includes Malappuram and Kasaragod. All-aided regional schools were also directed to implement a 20% seat increase.
Despite these proactive measures, the surge in student enrollment demands necessitated the allocation of these additional batches.