File picture of students attending an OJEE counselling class.

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 10: Despite the dismal rate of admission in private engineering colleges since 2010, representatives of the institutes hope for a better situation in the next two years due to the increase of students studying science in Plus Two.

In the past five years, the number of students, appearing for Plus Two science exams has increased from 57,812 in 2009 to 85,723 in 2014. The number of BTech seats has gone up from 31,006 in 2009 to 48,687 in 2014.

For the engineering seats, there are only 85,723 candidates. Looking at the number of eligible students, it should not be a difficult thing to fill up the seats. “If both the state government and the private colleges work accordingly, there is no reason for the seats not being filled up,” said Bibhudutta Misha, owner of an engineering college.

Of the 85,723 Plus Two science examinees in 2014, only 15,953 students scored first division marks, 1,417 students scored second division and 21,219 scored got third division.

“There is an urgent need to improve the quality of education in high schools and Plus Two colleges, so that students get their fundamentals of science clear. This will also improve their performance in the entrance exams of technical education,” said chairman of another private engineering college Sudarshan Jena.

However, for a section of educators, decrease in the demand for engineering graduates from the state is the reason why students are shying away from pursuing engineering courses.

“Every now and then, the state government blames the engineering colleges of not maintaining the quality of education. But, expecting the colleges to do a miracle in four .years is asking too much. How could a student, who did not have his fundamentals clear in the past 15 years, become a genius in just four years? Blaming us on poor education is just putting their responsibilities on us,” Jena said.

The state government has asked the private colleges to make efforts to see that more and more students take up Plus Two science stream.

“Why can’t these colleges motivate Class X students to pursue science in Plus Two by explaining them the benefits of higher education? Instead of investing in agents and crooks, why can’t they adopt small towns and set up special finishing schools for these students and get them conversant with English and personality development, so that when the students get into engineering colleges, they are ready for the course,” asked a senior official of the technical education department.

“The technical colleges should start contacting these students in all the districts without delay. Road shows and marketing should start immediately. The government can complement these efforts,” said the official.