Relief for engg colleges, worry for others

Relief for engg colleges, worry for others

Bharat.Yagnik@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:03.06.2021

The state government’s decision to cancel the Class XII state board exams may prove a blessing in disguise for engineering colleges, where more than half of all seats went vacant last year.

However, for arts and commerce colleges, the decision brings the challenge of adding 1.25 lakh seats for the academic year 2021-22. This is to be done in anticipation of the large number of students who are likely to pass this year due to the cancellation of the Class XII board exams.

“Last year, some 34,000 seats at engineering colleges went vacant after the admission committee and the private colleges could not fill them. This year, more students will qualify for engineering courses due to which the number of vacant seats may fall substantially,” said an education department official.

This is expected to benefit private colleges which were left with more than 50% of all seats vacant last year, he added.

Approximately 1.40 lakh science stream students and 5.43 lakh general stream students were expected to take the board exam.

Wednesday’s decision applies to only regular students and the government is yet to take a call on ‘repeater candidates’, who number 1.25 lakh students for Class XII general stream.

Last year, about 3.71 lakh students took the Class XII (general) board exams of which 2.87 lakh cleared it and took admission in commerce and arts colleges.

“This year about 1.25 lakh more students are expected to apply for admission to arts and commerce courses. The education department will have to ensure addition of almost 1,000 divisions to accommodate the huge additional number,” said Jayvantsinh Sarvaiya, president of Gujarat State College Principals’ Association.

About 53,000 students of Class XII science (Group A) were expected to take the board exams this year. Students who have opted for Group A with mathematics can qualify for engineering courses after fulfilling other criteria. In comparison, there 56,000 students in this group last year of whom about 42,500 cleared the exams.

While the board is yet to announce assessment criteria for students, experts feel the overall number of students clearing Class XII and applying for college admissions will far exceed that of last year.

No clarity on GujCET

After the cancellation of the board exams, the government is exploring the possibility of holding the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GujCET), the state-level exam is held annually for science students seeking admission to in degree engineering, diploma engineering and pharmacy courses in government, grant-in-aid and self-financed engineering institutions in Gujarat. “Unless there is clarity on GujCET, the college admission process cannot be initiated. Last year about 1.25 lakh students had taken the entrance test,” said a source in the Gujarat board. The merit lists for college admission were drawn up by giving 40% weight to percentile obtained by the candidate in GujCET 2020 and 60% weight to percentile obtained in the Class XII (science) board exams. TNN