Back in the 1990’s getting a seat in
Engineering was considered very prestigious, in those years there were around 10,000
engineering seats in Andhra Pradesh, many students at that time went to neighboring
Karnataka or Tamil Nadu to study Engineering.
Today Andhra Pradesh is the state with
the highest number of engineering colleges in the country. There are almost 350000 engineering seats available and the funny part
is that not more than 230000 write the entrance exams (EMCET) for these seats
thus making the entrance exam just a farce as anyone who wants to get a seat
will get one irrespective of the marks they get in the exam.
Here
is a table showing the increase of seats has been through the years
|
Year
|
Number
|
Number of seats
|
Vacant Seats
|
|
1995-1996
|
37
|
10155
|
0
|
|
1996-1997
|
37
|
10455
|
0
|
|
1997-1998
|
57
|
14155
|
0
|
|
1998-1999
|
89
|
19773
|
0
|
|
1999-2000
|
102
|
25064
|
0
|
|
2000-2001
|
107
|
30896
|
0
|
|
2001-2002
|
174
|
46090
|
0
|
|
2002-2003
|
217
|
62710
|
0
|
|
2003-2004
|
225
|
65960
|
0
|
|
2004-2005
|
238
|
82225
|
0
|
|
2005-2006
|
262
|
92600
|
0
|
|
2006-2007
|
282
|
98793
|
0
|
|
2007-2008
|
337
|
118993
|
0
|
|
2008-2009
|
530
|
174742
|
17577
|
|
2009-2010
|
656
|
226000
|
48795
|
|
2010-2011
|
705
|
252000
|
74972
|
|
2011-2012
|
721
|
350000
|
120000
|
|
2012-2013
|
728
(approx)
|
354000
(approx)
|
200000
(approx)
|
Source: Eenadu
Telugu daily
Thanks to the state government, more and more colleges opened up in the last 8 years and there is a huge increase in the number of seats available. Most of these colleges are run by politicians and influential businessmen. The actual reason for the sudden rise of these colleges is the “Andhra Pradesh Governments Fee Reimbursement Scheme” where any family with a income less than Rs.1,00,000/- per year are eligible for complete fee waiver and fee was paid by the government. At one point Rs 5000 crores was being shelled out by the state to private engg colleges annually. In addition the belief that holding an “Engineering” degree is prestigious in the society, however we still have surplus seats and student numbers are not high enough to fill all the seats.
This
growth has led to a dangerous situation here - students who do not have a
liking or aptitude for engineering or sciences are/were studying engineering. The quality of education, faculty and infrastructure in most
institutes is pathetic and substandard. The
quality of the education has dropped drastically, thus making not more than 30%
of the engineering students who pass out each year employable. 70% of
the students (approx 200000 students who joined
in 2009-10) who have spent 4 years of their lives studying for a degree that is
not able to get them a job.
No
doubt that overseas education is popular here in Andhra Pradesh especially for
the post graduate sector. Many students opt for going abroad and improving
their skills and yes they can be re-skilled and trained. This is the reason we
find almost 90% of our students wanting to study abroad already having an
Engineering degree. Majority of the others go many years (I have seen students
who have spent 2 to 3 years) just searching for an appropriate job or joining
some training organization to upgrade their skills.
Nishidhar Reddy
Managing Director
Atlas Consultants,
Hyderabad
Disclaimer: The views and
opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and author alone.
