NO CLARITY ON ADMISSION: TN polytechnic course aspirants left in lurch

Every  year,  about  10%  of  about  8.5-odd  lakh  students  who  secure  a  pass  in  SSLC  exams  opt  for  polytechnic  courses  in  520  colleges, including 80 government and aided institutions.

At least 170 courses are offered  under  the  Directorate  of  Technical  Education (DOTE) in these colleges. A  senior  official  from  the  DOTE  said  that first-year admissions for polytechnic courses  were  delayed  for  2021-2022  since  the  government  had  announced  that  it  would allocate marks for Class 10 students who were declared all pass due to the pan-demic.

He  also  pointed  out  that  the  new  admissions  to  polytechnic  colleges  this  academic year should have started by this time with student’s admission process, including distribution of applications. Polytechnic College Lecturers and Stu-dents   Welfare   Association   secretary   D   Sampath  Kumar  claimed  that  the  same  formula which was introduced for getting Class 11 admissions will not work out for polytechnic admissions since government and    government-aided    schools    could    adopt  between  10%  to  15%  additional  ad-missions.

“The   increase   in   the   intake   should be approved by AICTE for us,” he added.  He  added  that  even  if  they  got  approval  from  AICTE,  lab  facilities  would    have to be  improved to accommodate ex-tra  students  as  courses  were  heavily  dependent on practical classes. “Even if the government  comes  out  with  an  entrance  test, it should be common for both government and private colleges,” Kumar added.

Tami Nadu Teachers Association president P K Ilamaran said the government’s delay in announcing admission procedure for   technical   education   would   create   stress  among  students  who  want  to  take  up polytechnic courses. He added that an entrance exam for polytechnic admission would  be  unacceptable  and  against  the  government policy.

New system to choose Class 11 stream Following    opposition    from    various    quarters, including political parties, the State  government  on  Wednesday  with-drew  its  announcement  on  conducting  entrance  exams  if  applications  to  join  Class  11  for  a  particular  stream  in  government and government-aided schools were  beyond  the  admission  capacity.

In  its latest circular, the School Education Department said that if the demand for either  Science  or  Commerce  or  Vocational stream was beyond the intake capacity, admissions should be held based on Class 9 annual exam marks. The other  guidelines  that  the  government  announced on Tuesday would be retained