MALAPPURAM: The record pass that Malappuram district witnessed in this year's SSLC examination has brought in a pall of gloom on the aspirations of more than half of the winners. Nearly 33,000 of those qualified for further studies will not find a seat in the district's higher secondary schools and other institutions.

The unprecedented win in the SSLC examination has exposed the district's inadequacy in higher education facilities.

The number of Plus Two seats the higher secondary schools in the district can offer is about 17,500. This can cater to hardly 32 per cent of the 54,500-odd students who passed the SSLC examination in the district this year.

Vocational stream

The number of seats available in vocational higher secondary stream is 1,700-odd. The industrial training centres (ITCs) in the district offer about 1,100 seats, ITIs about 400 seats, polytechnics about 750, and technical higher secondary schools about 200.

The district's higher secondary schools and other institutions can collectively take care of 19,500-odd students after their SSLC.

This would leave nearly 35,000 students without a seat in any recognised institution in the district.

10% increase

The decision of the Government to increase 10 per cent of the Plus Two seats this year will not bring any cheer to Malappuram.

The number of extra seats the Government move will bring to the district will be less than 2,000. This will leave about 33,000 students without any option.

Other avenues

Most of them will be forced to depend on parallel colleges, and a small number on the institutions in other districts. The shortage of higher secondary seats is not so acute in the southern districts of the State, particularly Pathanamthitta, as is in Malabar.

The worst affected is Malappuram.

There are 21 panchayats in Malappuram district without a Government higher secondary school.

Even though the previous Government had initiated a move to introduce a school each in those panchayats, there was no follow-up action from the current Government.

Additional seats

The District Development Council, which met here on Saturday, demanded that additional Plus Two batches should be allowed in the district's schools to tide over the crisis.

The council also demanded that Plus Two should be given to aided schools in the 21 panchayats that do not have higher secondary schools.

Additional District Magistrate (ADM) C. Saidalavi presided over the meeting.

In a memorandum submitted to Education Minister M.A. Baby, Abdurahman Randathani, MLA, pointed out the inequities in higher education in the district.

More batches

He suggested that unaided Plus Two batches be introduced in Government and aided higher secondary schools.

Mr. Randathani suggested that the Government pay the wages of the teachers of unaided Plus Two batches on hourly basis.

He also demanded that more centres of the State Open School be opened in Malabar.

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