Bhubaneswar, Nov. 4: Educators continue to debate on whether Odisha should continue taking part at the national-level Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Mains for admission to engineering colleges in the state or revert to the state-level entrance Odisha JEE.

While promoters of private engineering colleges have blamed the JEE(Mains) for the large-scale vacancy in engineering colleges, many educators have batted for the all-India entrance.

They are of the opinion that increasing vacancies over the past five years have proved that the demand for BTech degrees has dropped due to various reasons, primarily because of the falling standards of engineering education in private institutes. They think getting back to OJEE will in no way help in filling up seats.

Supporting the JEE(Mains) format, educator Rajamohan Mohanty said the exam would make it convenient for the students of Odisha who want to get admitted to IITs and NITs. The one-entrance test formula would have to be adopted at some time, so why not begin now, he argued.

It would take two or three years for the students to get acquainted with the test but it was worth it. Odisha had to be progressive and not stick to the primitive ways, he said.

Besides demanding the OJEE, private colleges have also sought permission to conduct admissions for 10 per cent NRI seats/vacant NRI seats at the college level and handing over of all vacant seats to the colleges after the second round of counselling.

The government is waiting for the recommendations of the policy planning board, which will sit on November 7, before taking a call in this matter.