HYDERABAD : Though we are announcing marks within 15 days of the Eamcet exams, we have to wait for over a month to release ranks by taking 25 per cent weightage into con- sideration." Prof. D.N. Reddy
Though it's nearly four months since the Eamcet and Icet entrance examinations were conducted for admission into professional courses such as engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA, lakhs of students who passed the examinations are sitting idle thanks to delays in the admissions process.
As many as 1.6 lakh students have qualified in Icet, and 2.5 lakh in the Eamcet engineering and pharmacy streams this year.
The delayed admissions procedure has a knock-on effect for students admitted to the first year, with 70 per cent of them failing and the remaining 30 per cent passing with much difficulty, because they have just five months to complete the entire first year course.
With the government tightening the norms for those availing of the fee reimbursement scheme from this year by insisting that students pass all the first year exams if they want to qualify for the scheme in the second year, nearly 70 per cent of the students are in danger of losing the benefit this year.
The state government has failed to reduce the sixmonth gap between the entrance exam and beginning of classes for professional courses despite coming out with several new initiatives.
The delay in starting the course means that faculty members are forced to complete the entire first-year syllabus in just five months.
This does not give students sufficient time to understand and learn the subjects and leads to the high failure rate. A majority of the students who study in professional courses are dependent on the government’s fee reimbursement scheme which ensures that the government pays their fees to the concerned colleges.
Many of them are from the backward classes, scheduled castes, and scheduled tribes, minorities, physically challenged. They fear that they will lose the benefit of free higher education for no fault of theirs if they fail due to delayed admissions.
While the ICET counselling has just begun, the Eamcet counselling is yet to start. It is scheduled to be held from August 29 to September 22. The seat allotment list will be released on September 25, which means the students will have to wait till October to attend classes in first year engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA.
However, the classes for these students will begin on a serious note only in November, since the second phase of admissions to fill leftover seats will be conducted throughout the month of October.
This means students have to wait a full five months from the time of appearing for the entrance exams to the time classes actually start.
Eamcet was conducted on May 30. The marks were announced on June 16 and the ranks on July 21. This entire process took nearly two months. The government failed to begin the admissions process even a month after the ranks were announced.
Officials blame the 25 per cent weightage for Inter marks in Eamcet for the delay in initiating the Eamcet admissions process.
“With the weightage for Inter marks, we have to announce Eamcet results in two phases. Though we are announcing marks within 15 days of the Eamcet being conducted, we have to wait for over a month to release ranks by taking 25 per cent weightage into consideration,” said Prof D.N. Reddy, chairman, Eamcet.
In the meantime, the Inter Board has to conduct advanced supplementary exams and release the results. Some students who appeared in public exams in March may apply for revaluation. Some more may apply for revaluation after supplementary results are announced.
The Inter Board has to release all those results and submit them to JNTUHyderabad, to enable it to determine Eamcet ranks. All these factors are contributing to the delay in the Eamcet process.
“To avoid all this, we have requested the government to allow us to give weightage only for Inter marks announced after the annual exams in March,” Prof Reddy said.