Over 1 lakh take CAP admission in three days, most opt for humanities

Kolkata: After three days of undergraduate admissions via the Centralised Admission Portal (CAP), over 1 lakh applicants have secured admission in various subjects. Multidisciplinary courses have drawn the most number of applicants, followed by Bengali, English, history and political science.In line with the pattern observed over the last few years, interest in science subjects dipped again this year. The top five preferred subjects are not from the science stream.A total of 2.1 lakh seats out of 3.8 lakh available seats have been allotted for three-year multidisciplinary courses. Bengali (1,00,801) and history (82,456) are the two other subjects that have drawn the highest number of applicants. In political science, 63,366 seats have been allotted, while 56,912 seats have been allotted in English.Data shows that the top 10 most preferred subjects are predominantly from the humanities. Geography (27,120 seat allotments) is the only science-adjacent subject among the top 10. Subjects like mathematics, physics and Chemistry have recorded very poor takers. Although the exact numbers have not been revealed by the Higher Education Department, the turnout for these core science subjects is very low.Sharmila Mitra, a former college principal, said, “We need to revise our course curriculum; otherwise, this problem will never be resolved. Students want to pursue courses that offer job opportunities. I have seen other states revising their curricula and introducing new-age courses that are in high demand. After obtaining autonomous status, Behala College introduced subjects like AI and Cyber Security, which are highly sought after. I believe a thorough review is crucial; otherwise, student shortages across colleges will increase.”Another former principal, Purna Chandra Maiti, said, “If just getting a degree is the priority, some students feel it is better to graduate with three minor subjects rather than pursuing a four-year degree programme in a major course. This is because job opportunities are almost non-existent and the teacher recruitment process is irregular.”Department officials remain hopeful that this year’s admission scenario will be better than previous years since the process has started early. The state education department plans to conduct a comprehensive review based on the data from CAP.