Chennai colleges filling up, but Maths has few takers

Chennai colleges filling up, but Maths has few takers

Chennai colleges’ undergraduate seats are fast filling up, but there seems to be an exception. Top colleges here are hoping and waiting for candidates to opt for BSc Mathematics.

Published: 29th September 2021 07:03 AM 

By Binita Jaiswal

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chennai colleges’ undergraduate seats are fast filling up, but there seems to be an exception. Top colleges here are hoping and waiting for candidates to opt for BSc Mathematics. Five years ago, the demand for mathematics and other basic science subjects was so high that Loyola College started a second shift. But this year, almost 70 mathematics seats in Shift II are lying vacant, and about 15 physics and chemistry seats in the college are yet to be filled.

“The demand for basic science courses has been dwindling over the past few years as students are now more interested in computer-related subjects and commerce courses,” the college principal Thomas Amirtham says.

Overall, the number of applications received for basic science courses, such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, is 10-15 per cent less than last year, say the managements of colleges in the city, adding that they never expected to struggle to fill their mathematics seats.

The change is linked to the 100 per cent pass rate in the Class 12 exams, say academicians. “Since all students passed, they aspire to pursue professional courses, such as engineering and computer science,” says A Sudhakar, a retired college principal.

At Guru Nanak College, principal MG Ragunathan says there is an “unusual situation” — while all seats have been occupied, mathematics is the lone exception, with 10 out of 50 seats remaining vacant.

But at MOP Vaishnav College for Women, principal Lalita Balakrishnan is hopeful. The 15 (out of 70) vacant mathematics seats are likely to get filled once the NEET results are out and the engineering counselling is over, she says.

“The deadline for admission is October 6, so students who don’t get an engineering course of their choice or a good rank in NEET will seek admission for mathematics,” Balakrishnan explains. Some academicians, meanwhile, say the declining popularity of mathematics is worrying. “How will students learn the algorithms required for artificial intelligence and machine learning without mathematics?” wondered a professor from Anna University.