Bhubaneswar, May 22: The number of students from Odisha who have qualified for JEE Advanced is disappointingly low this year.

Around 45,000 students from the state took JEE Main of which only about 2,700 students qualified for the advanced round. That comes to 8.2 per cent.

Last year, around 47,000 students from the state appeared for the Mains and 3,700 qualified for the next round, which comes to 7.87 per cent.

The number of students from Odisha who had qualified in JEE Mains in 2015 was 3,408.

In 2014, too, around 3,202 students from Odisha had qualified for JEE Advanced.

"Over the past few years, less than 10 per cent of the total students who appeared for JEE Main qualified for the Advanced round.

But, the scenario in other states is very different. In New Delhi and the southern states, around 15 to 20 per cent of students usually qualify," said educationist Chittaranjan Mishra.

Many believe language is the barrier for some students. "Our students take the test in English but many of them are not very comfortable with it. Classes are taken in Odia but that does not help when it comes to appearing for all-India examinations," said director of a coaching centre in the city, Ashutosh Dash.

Some expert academics also believe that the problem is more with the system than with the students.

The principal of BJB College, Bhubaneswar, Mohammed Nawaz Hasan, said the foremost step was to form a committee to assess the reasons behind the poor performance of students.

"We need to reach out to students in rural areas and understand the problems they face in schools with regard to teaching methods and availability of study materials. After that, we need to implement the recommendations," he said.

The state government has taken a number of steps from this year to ensure better results in all-India level examinations.

From this academic session, the state government will prescribe books for all the Plus Two subjects in three streams. Questions for next year's Plus Two examination will only be from these prescribed books.

Sundarlal Seal, chairman of the Council of Higher Secondary Education, said: "The books will be selected in such a manner that it will be easier for students to prepare for competitive exams for all streams. Steps are also being taken to provide extra classes to those who need special help."

Apart from entrance examinations, the number of students scoring above 90 per cent in the Plus Two examination has been very low over the the past few years.

Last year it was 53. It has dropped to 27 this year.