BHUBANESWAR: A total of 85,785 Plus II seats in higher secondary schools (earlier known as junior colleges) have remained vacant after spot admission.The reasons for the large number of vacant seats is a demand-supply mismatch, lack of proper infrastructure, inadequate faculty in higher secondary schools and the movement of students to other states, feel educationists. A large number of students also join vocational courses in the ITIs, leading to vacancies in higher secondary schools."It is a matter of concern that a large number of Plus II seats are vacant. The supply exceeds the demand. Every year, the number of seats in colleges is being increased without examining the demand. A large number of students are joining vocational colleges," said chairman of the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Amarendra Patnaik.Official sources said there were 4,24,739 seats in the arts, science and commerce streams across 1,596 higher secondary schools, including 466 self-financing institutes. Of the 2,36,894 seats in arts, 13,412 are vacant. Of the 1,43,378 seats in science, 53,785 are vacant.This year, around 4.35 lakh students passed the Class X state board examination. Another 25,000 students passed the Class X boards from national boards such as the CBSE and the ICSE.There are around 1 lakh diploma seats in nearly 1,000 ITIs in the state. Apart from joining vocational courses, many students go to other states for better coaching facilities to crack national-level entrance tests for medical and engineering courses, experts said."After Class X, coaching for entrance exams is a major reason for students to go to other states like Rajasthan , Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The success rate of coaching centres there is better than those in Odisha," said Raghunath Panda, principal of Institute of Higher Secondary Education, a self-financing higher secondary school in the city.Panda said the academic session in schools of the state was less than that in other states. This also leads to students moving out of Odisha after Class X. "Many colleges here run without proper infrastructure and faculties," he added.Sources said the number of higher secondary schools in Khurda district had increased from 132 to 153 this season. Of the 36,502 seats in the district, as many as 9,027 are vacant. The majority is in self-financing schools. Similarly, in the 136 higher secondary schools in Ganjam district , there are no takers for 12,842 seats. In Cuttack district , which has 130 higher secondary schools, 9,958 seats are vacant.

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