11th Admission Website Crashes on First Day, Sparks Statewide Outrage
The state government’s much-anticipated move to fully digitize the 11th standard admission process faced a major setback on its very first day, as the official admission website crashed, leaving thousands of students and parents in distress. The technical failure triggered a wave of frustration across Maharashtra. For the first time, the entire 11th admission procedure is being conducted online across the state. However, on the inaugural day of the application process, the website became non-functional, rendering students and parents unable to fill out application forms either from home or cyber cafés.
Students who logged in early Wednesday morning were met with the error message “502 Bad Gateway,” which was later replaced by “The website is under construction.” The issue persisted throughout the day, severely affecting applicants who had planned to complete their forms on day one. This unexpected disruption has raised serious concerns about the preparedness and planning behind the new system. A staggering 13,02,873 students have passed the SSC (10th grade) examination this year, competing for 20,91,390 available seats in junior colleges across the state. The online admission portal officially went live on May 21. Previously, this digital system was restricted to select municipal areas, but the Education Department expanded it statewide this year.
Even before the rollout, education experts had voiced concerns about the feasibility of executing such a large-scale digital transition without adequate infrastructure. Wednesday’s website failure appears to have confirmed those fears. Although a helpline was provided to support applicants, numerous parents reported that their repeated attempts to reach assistance went unanswered, further compounding the confusion.
When contacted, officials at the Directorate of Education acknowledged the issue, stating that technical maintenance was underway and that the website would be functional soon. However, for many students, valuable time has already been lost due to the glitch. The widespread disruption has led to growing dissatisfaction among parents and students, many of whom remain unsure about how and when they will be able to complete their applications. Experts have warned that if the technical issues are not resolved promptly, public trust in the digital admission process could erode significantly.