An Orissa Private Engineering Schools' Association media conference in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 21: Promoters of private engineering schools across the state who are already struggling for their existence in view of large-scale seat vacancies have accused the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) of “squeezing” their opportunity to grow due to new norms applicable from the academic year 2011-2012.

Urging the state government to not revise the existing norms, the Orissa Private Engineering Schools’ Association has said that the new norms would further hammer the already affected sector, hit by large-scale vacant seats for the past two years.

As per the new AICTE norms, eligibility for admission for the diploma course has been fixed as high school certificate pass with 50 per cent aggregate marks.

“In Orissa, the minimum pass mark is 33 per cent and for the past few years the number of first division holders is mere 12 percent. More than sixty per cent students get third division and 40 per cent get second division,” said Kanhu Soren, president, Orissa Private Engineering Schools Association (OPESA).

“Fixing the minimum eligibility criteria at 50 per cent simply means losing out on students. Also, it will lead to further vacancy in the number of seats, due to which many institutions will be forced to close down due to financial stringency,” Soren said.

“Again, as per the existing practice, the national council for vocational training certificate holders of two years, after Class X with a minimum 60 percent marks, were eligible for lateral entry admission to second year diploma engineering stream. However, the revised norms put the eligibility criteria for admission under lateral entry scheme to second year diploma courses as Plus Two science with a vocational degree without any cut off mark. This will again deprive the NCVT certificate holders to pursue the higher technical course,” OPESA secretary, Saroj Sahoo, said.

The number of polytechnique institutions in the state has increased from 25 to 77 in the last three years. “This has helped us to retain a large number of students who were earlier going to other states such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to pursue the studies. Similarly, a large percentage of our students hail from the weaker section of the society, especially from the SC and ST communities, who are provided with vocational training.

However, for the past two years, these institutes have been facing severe problems, as almost 50 per cent of the seats remain vacant. “As such, large vacancies are making the institutions financially weaker. With the implementation of the new norms, the situation is only likely to deteriorate,” said Sahoo.

Terming the new rules as “draconian”, the OPESA has and blamed the AICTE of not bothering to consult either the state government or the institutions before framing the new rules, which would deprive them of students.

OPESA has urged the state government not to revise the existing norm for eligibility for admission to a three-year engineering (diploma) course.

The association has requested the government to consider ITI pass out trainees with 60 percent mark aggregate as per the existing practice, to be considered eligible for the lateral entry and the Plus Two science pass out candidates to be allowed to appear the tests, the association said.

Priya Abraham

Bhubaneswar, January 21: Promoters of private engineering schools across the state already struggling for their existence in view of large scale seat vacancies have accused the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) of ‘squeezing ‘ their opportunity to grow with their new norm applicable from the academic year 2011-2012.

Urging the state government not to revise the existing norm, the Orissa Private Engineering Schools Association has said that the new norms would further hammer the already affected sector, hit by huge scale vacant seats for the past two years.

As per the new AICTE norms, the eligibility for admission to diploma course has been fixed as high school certificate pass with 50 percent aggregate marks.

“In Orissa the minimum pass mark is 33 percent and for the past few years the number of first division holders are mere 12 percent. More than sixty percent students fetch third division and 40 percent get second division category,” said Kanhu Soren president OPESA( Orissa Private Engineering Schools Association)

“Fixing the minimum eligibility criteria at 50 percent simply means losing out on students. Also it will lead to further vacancy in the number of seats due to which many institutions will be forced to close down due to financial stringency, Soren said.

“Again as per the existing practice the national council for vocational training certificate holders of two years trade, after class 10 having minimum 60 percent marks were eligible for lateral entry admission to second year of diploma engineering stream. However the revised norm puts the eligibility criteria for admission under lateral entry scheme to second year diploma courses as 12th science with vocational without any cut off mark. This would again deprive the NCVT certificate holders to pursue the higher technical course,” OPESA secretary Saroj Sahoo said.

The number of polytechnique institutions in the state has increased from 25 to 77 during the last three years. “This has helped us able to retain a large number of students who were earlier going to other states such as Karnataka and Tamilnadu to pursue the studies. Similarly a good percentage of our students hail from the weaker section of the society specially the SC and STs who are being imparted vocationally training.

However for the past two years these institutes have been facing a severe crisis with almost 50 percent of the seats remaining vacant. “As such the large vacancies are making the institutions financially weaker With the implementation of the new norms, the situation is only likely to detoriate ,” said Sahoo.

Terming the new rules as ‘draconian,’ the OPESA , has and blamed the AICTE of not bothering to consult either the state government or the institutions ahead of framing the new rules which would deprive them of students.

The OPESA has urged the state government not to revise the existing norm for eligibility for admission into three year diploma engineering. The association has requested the government to consider the ITI pass outs trainees with 60 percent mark aggregate as per the existing practice to be considered eligible for the lateral entry and the 12th science pass out candidates to be allowed to appear the tests, the association demanded.