Thiruvananthapuram: A record number of Class 10 students in Kerala has passed the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination. Naturally, the admission to the next grade, Plus-1, depends on the number of seats available in higher secondary schools across Kerala. The state government is likely to take a decision on increasing the Plus-1 seats very soon.
As per the SSLC results announced on Wednesday, a whopping 4.19 lakh students have qualified for higher studies. The overall pass percentage is an all-time high of 99.47 per cent.
The Plus-1 seats could be hiked only for those districts that do not have adequate seats in proportion to the number of students who have qualified for higher studies.
In Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod districts, the number of Plus-1 seats is much less than the students who have cleared the SSLC exam. There is a shortage of 22,329 seats in Malappuram district alone.
There are around 3.62 lakh Plus-1 seats across 14 districts in the state. Of this, 1.41 lakh is at government schools, 1.65 lakh at aided schools and 55,596 in the unaided sector. Science batches have the most number of seats, around 2 lakh.
Moreover, there are 27,500 first-year seats in the Vocational Higher Secondary Examination (VHSE) stream; 27,000 seats in Industrial Training Centres and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs); and 22,000 seats for polytechnic courses.
(Industrial Training Centres (ITC's) are self-financing institutions and provide same vocational courses as ITIs).
Cons of publishing mark lists on social media
Cyber experts have warned that it is not safe to publish the digital copies of the mark sheets of those students who have performed well in the SSLC exam. Details such as date of birth, registration number, caste and parents' names could be taken from the social media and misused. Including the column on caste in the mark lists too may pose problems if they come out in the public domain.