Engineering on the wane?

KOTTAYAM: Owing to a host of reasons including the non-availability of jobs, experts opinions and available data over the years shows that the interest in studying engineering among students has cooled off. According to the data, 90,806 students appeared for the engineering entrance examinations in the state in 2017  of which 72, 440 qualified and 61,716 entered the rank list.  At the national level, NEET entrance Engineeringexaminations 10,90,085 persons appeared in 2017. However this underwent a further decrease in 2018 when 90,333 persons appeared and 58,286 students qualified but the rank list is still awaited.

Experts say that there is a difference in the number of students opting for the engineering stream and the engineering profession, although that was a preferred option earlier.  However, the decrease has not been startling. The statistics available from the Brilliant study centre, Pala, shows an increase in the number of students who appeared for the engineering entrance examinations. Among the 3,000 students who wrote the engineering entrance examinations in 2017 for the JEE Main, 1,900 students got admission in various Colleges, according to the information available from the study centre. Whereas in 2018, among the 3,500 students who wrote the examinations, 2,700 students got admissions to various colleges. 

Binoy Joseph, the faculty of the engineering entrance at the Brilliant study centre, Pala, says that there was a reduction in the number of engineering aspirants and the decline in the number of students opting for the engineering stream at the brilliant had declined. “The reason is the non-availability of jobs for those qualifying for engineering”, he said. Mr Binoy said that there was a shift in the trend over the past couple of years with students aspiring for admissions at the National Institute of Technologies(NITs) rather than the engineering colleges in the state.

Former Joint Commissioner of the entrance examinations, Prof Rajoo Krishnan says that the number of students opting for the engineering stream had undergone a reduction over the past couple of years and there was a trend in which the students were opting to study science subjects at the arts and science Colleges in the state. “Due to a number of reasons, those who are opting to study science subjects at the colleges has increased. The arts and science Colleges in the state have gone back to the trend and now more students are opting for studying science subjects”, Prof Rajoo Krishnan told DC. 

However, according to the statistics from Briliant academy Pala, despite the boom for other courses, the number of students opting for the medical entrance has not suffered any reduction and the number of students opting for Medicine courses was steady. In 2017, 6,000 students got admitted for the medical entrance examinations at the Brilliant Academy, of which 1,600 students got admissions for the medicine seats in the merit quota.

In 2018, among the 6,000 students who appeared for the medicine entrance examinations, the result is awaited. Justy Joseph, a faculty of medicine at Brilliant told DC that the students were eager to opt for medicine. Noted educationist Prof RVG Menon told DC that due to the less number of pass percentage among the students who were studying in the engineering Colleges in the state, it was more advisable for them to join the arts and science Colleges for choosing the science stream. “There are many factors including the non-availability of jobs for those who study the engineering stream. Many of them are finding it difficult to get jobs after the course. Due to this, opting for joining science subjects in the arts and science colleges is a better option”, he told Deccan Chronicle.