General Education Minister N. Samsudheen’s recent statement that the marginal increase of Plus One seats and the additional batches allotted last year will continue during the allotment process itself has come as a relief for North Kerala districts where the seat shortage is severe.

Official sources told The Hindu on Sunday (May 24, 2026) that all the arrangements are in place for the rollout of the admissions process. The sources said that the process would begin once the State Cabinet, which is scheduled to meet on Monday (May 25, 2026), gives its approval.

The previous Left Democratic Front government had allotted of 352 additional batches for higher secondary schools across the States and a marginal increase of 30% of seats. However, the additional batches and marginal increase of seats were announced after the beginning of the allotment process last year.

As many as 235 of these batches are in Malappuram district alone, where the Plus One seat shortage is perceived to be acute. There are 34 batches in Kasaragod, 31 in Kozhikode, 19 in Kannur, 18 in Palakkad, nine in Wayanad, five in Thrissur, and one in Kollam. If the marginal increase of seats is up to 30%, the number of seats in one class could go up from 50 to 65. This time, the students are likely to get benefited if the additional batches and marginal increase of seats are there in the initial allotment itself.

According to the data compiled by the Malabar Education Movement, there is a shortage of 26,137 seats in Malappuram district, 9,324 in Palakkad, 7,758 in Kozhikode, 4,931 in Kannur, 3,583 in Kasaragod, and 1,431 in Wayanad.