Bhubaneswar, May 15: Results of 19,222 students, who took the Diploma Entrance Test (DET) for the lateral entry category, were announced today. Of the successful candidates, 3,200 students will be entitled to admissions to diploma engineering courses.
In the state, there are 32,000 seats for diploma engineering and 10 per cent of the seats are reserved for lateral entry — students from ITIs and Plus Two science stream.
Successful students can be accommodated in the 14,000 seats that are vacant since the past one year. For the lateral entry candidates, the diploma courses are for two years instead of three.
For regular students, who will join after Class X, the test was held on May 5. The results will be announced on May 20.
Ever since the All India Council for Technical Education fixed the eligibility criteria for BTech courses at minimum 45 per cent, there has been a rise in the trend of taking admission into diploma engineering courses.
“Students with low plus two scores are also joining diploma engineering and then getting into the BTech course through lateral entry,” said Jasobanta Mishra, promoter of a private diploma college.
In 2012, 21,860 students had applied for the lateral entry category. About 1,900 students who scored less than 45 per cent have successfully got admission into BTech engineering through the lateral entry system, he said.
Odisha Private Enginering Schools Association secretary Saroj Sahoo said students who had completed two years of diploma course, along with three years of degree course, have been the most sought after candidates by recruiters for their clarity of concepts and thorough knowledge of practicals.
The state government is trying to tighten its noose around engineering schools of the state and make their examination systems stringent. Besides introduction of squads to check malpractice, the department of technical education is planning to rationalise the marks in practical and theory exams. There are 13 government and 76 private diploma-engineering schools in the state.
