Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government has decided to open 1,600 new colleges all over the state this year to provide relief to thousands of students who have recently passed out of school but have not secured admission to junior colleges.

Education Minister Vasant Purke announced this while responding to a discussion on schools and higher technical education and the plight of students, initiated by the opposition parties in the state legislative assembly on Friday.

Assuring that "not a single student will remain without admission this year", Purke said that since the pass percentage of students in the state was higher this year than in 2007, more divisions and more colleges were needed.

He said that while the decision to start more divisions in existing colleges was already taken, the government will go ahead and start 1,600 new colleges from the current academic year. The government was committed to ensuring that each student who passed out of school this year gets a seat in a college of his or her choice.

The list of the new colleges with the number of seats, their locations and the courses offered would soon be announced and displayed on the state government website, he said. IANS