A government engineering college in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, July 31: The state government has directed government-run engineering colleges to make arrangements to facilitate the newly admitted students when they reporting at the allotted institutes.

The order was issued in view of a large number of complaints from students and parents about mismanagement during admissions last year.

The counselling for admission to technical or professional colleges is on. Students allotted seats for admissions will report in the allotted colleges from tomorrow.

The technical education department has asked the colleges that students and parents should be properly received at the reception centre. It has also asked the colleges to facilitate immediate hostel accommodation for the students on the college campus and if that is not available, a suitable alternate arrangement must be made on rental basis by the college authorities.

The colleges have been asked to engage a faculty member as nodal officer to carry out the responsibilities and make available their telephone numbers to students and parents.

“It has been found that in the absence of proper guidance, the students face difficulties, especially in accommodation. Students as well as parents have expressed their discontentment to the government about such difficulties in the past,” the directive from the department reads.

“We faced a lot of problems last year. There was a huge rush at the college where we reached for admissions. Someone was reading out the roll numbers haphazardly and no help-desk was there to guide us. There was no seating arrangement either,” said Arijit Patra, an engineering student.

“My elder son was admitted to a private engineering college last year and the way they handled us was very professional. We did not face any problem as we had the contact numbers of the hostel supervisors and the college director. But at the same time, we faced a lot of difficulty in getting my daughter admitted to a government college. There was no one we could consult and the faculty there was so rude. I am glad to know that such a directive has been passed. It will be a relief to the worried parents,” said Premanand Dash, a parent.

This apart, the department has asked the colleges to provide the students and parents with the academic calendar of the university and take all measures, so that no incident of ragging takes place.