Aicte decision:now students with 45 percent can apply for engineering

The All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE), an advisory
body in all matters relating to
technical education, has relaxed
the basic eligibility criteria for
admissions to the first year
engineering course.
The minimum criteria has been
brought down to 45 per cent (40
per cent for reserved category)
aggregate in physics, chemistry
and mathematics (PCM) group in
standard XII exam, from 50 per
cent in force till last year.
This follows the apex
engineering body's decision to
lower the bar for polytechnic
admissions to 35 per cent from
50 per cent in standard X exam
from any board.
"The AICTE had taken this
decision a couple of days back.
But it's yet to reach us formally,"
sources close to Director of
Technical Education (Mumbai)
Subhash Mahajan said.
They said that DTE will make
changes only after getting official
communication in this regard.
Sources said that the last date of
submission of forms is also likely
to be extended if the new
criterion is implemented.
They pointed out that AICTE was
forced to lower the bar as
demand for engineers was
globally high but the field evoked
a poor response from
candidates. Not only were high
fees a factor, but many students
were also not able to fulfill even
the basic criteria of getting 50
per cent in PCM group in class XII
exams.
Currently, over 1.14 lakh
engineering seats are up for
grabs in 309 colleges across
Maharashtra. However, the
number of applications was
around 90,000 till last
Wednesday, which raised fears
of many seats remaining vacant
across the state.
Last year, over 22,000 seats
remained vacant and many new
colleges were forced to close
some branches, including that of
Information Technology, which
was once a popular choice of
students.
Over 2.54 lakh applicants had
appeared for the engineering
entrance exam, for which the
minimum eligibility is just one
mark out of 200. However, many
of them were not able to fulfill
the basic criteria of scoring
150/300 marks in PCM group in
HSC.
With AICTE lowering the bar, any
candidate scoring 135/300
marks would become eligible for
admissions to BE first year.
Source)economictimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/education/AICTE-decision-students-with-45-pc-in-PCM-can-apply-for-Engg/articleshow/9109574.cms