Bhubaneswar: Only 12,500 students joined the registration process for admission into BTech courses in government and private engineering colleges this year.

Of them, around 11,400 candidates have taken part in the choice-locking process. Admissions will be held for 42,784 seats at eight government and 83 private engineering colleges. Out of these, around 34,000 seats are in the private colleges.

Last year, more than 31,000 engineering seats were lying vacant across the state even after conducting the Special Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE). While 24,988 out of 45,844 seats remained vacant in 2013, about 30,494 seats of 46,369 could not be filled in 2014. In 2015, 27,786 of 46,425 seats were left vacant, while in 2016, about 75 per cent seats were not filled up.

Educators feel that the number shows the decline in the interest among the students for admission into engineering courses in the state. "The trend since the past few years has been very disturbing. After the last round of allotment, a maximum of 8,000 students will take admission, if we go by the trends in the past few years," said Ashish Mishra, professor at a private engineering college here.

But, the Odisha Private Engineering Colleges' Association is hopeful and feels that around 15,000 more seats will be filled in the coming days.

"We are hopeful that around 8,000 seats will be filled up through the Special OJEE since it has been already decided this year. Also, colleges will directly admit around 6,000 students. By the end, we think that we will be in a better position," said association secretary Binod Dash.

Experts feel that the private engineering colleges should improve the quality of education and deliver the promises they make to students.

"They lure them with the promise of jobs in big companies but are unable to place them. This damages the reputation of the college and career of the students. The colleges must also understand the importance of good teachers and invest in them," said academician Ajanta Satpathy.