Another season of discontent

After the CET was abolished, the process of admission to professional colleges is again mystifying to applicants.

Testing times: CET is gone and the engineering admission process has not become any easier.

Tamil Nadu was known for its systematic and scientific system of admissions to professional colleges over the years. After scrapping the earlier marks+interview system, the State introduced the well-planned system of Plus- Two marks + the Common Entrance Test (CET), followed by a Single Window System of admissions through counselling sessions. It was the envy of other States, which soon followed suit. The whole process was computerised, transparent and well settled.

Among the political parties, there was a gnawing feeling that rural students could not get their due share of seats in this process. Because of the access to special coaching and tuition classes, students in the urban centres appeared to be doing much better, especially in the CET. And this added value to their overall marks. While reducing the marks in Maths, Physics, and Chemistry (for Engineering admissions), and Biology, Physics, and Chemistry (for medical seats) to 200, and adding on 100 marks for CET, students were given a total of 300. Once the applications came in, a merit list of ranking of all applicants was made and they were called for counselling in four centres — Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, and Madurai. The admissions were granted across the table on the networked computerised system.

When year after year, it became clear that boys and girls in rural areas and educationally backward regions of the State could not get into the best colleges and courses, the State Government decided to tinker with the system. A rural quota was introduced, but struck down by the court. In the earlier regime, a move to scrap CET was disallowed by the court. But the present administration not only introduced an amending legislation, but also offered a “normalisation process” of marking to ensure that students from all streams of education — State and Central boards, in addition to others — could be ranked on a common pattern. In other words, to neutralise the advantage that State board students got in terms of higher marks, boys and girls from the CBSE for instance will be marked up to a uniform standard using a formula.

Despite these steps and the expert committee recommendations to ensure a smooth admission process, confusion persists in the admissions this year too.

First: There are bound to be several students with the same cut-off marks, making it difficult to rank them. So, the Government came up with a rather controversial arrangement that will, in the case of a tie in marks, take into account the marks in the optional subject, the date of birth (giving preference to the older candidate), and if everything else is the same, draw lots for the seat. This has caused disaffection among students and parents alike.

Second: The private self-financing colleges challenged the Government Order on the surrender of seats to the government quota. Last year, there was an agreement that non-minority colleges would surrender 65 per cent of their seats to the Government, and keep 35 per cent for their management quota. Minority institutions will give up 50 per cent. The Government decided to retain the same formula this year, but the colleges challenged the move. The High Court has upheld the Government Order, but the issue has not been settled, as the managements seem determined to fight this to the end. There is also the question of whether a counselling procedure needs to be followed for admissions under the management quota.

Third: Capitation fees for the management quota seats has remained a ticklish and controversial issue. Political parties have flayed the Government for not cracking down on these institutions and eliminating the system of charging exorbitant fees. The Government on its part has made it clear that it is ready to crack down on any institution if there is a complaint.

That remains an issue to be resolved. Which parent or student will complain that a college asked them to cough up Rs. 2 lakh or more for a premium seat? Nobody was forced to “buy” that seat. If a student wants to gain admission into the Computer Science, Electronics and Communications Engineering, or Information Technology branch in a reputed college, there is a price to pay. If he or she is not sure of getting the seat through the government quota, then the management quota remains the only option. So they “book” their seat paying anything from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 8 lakh, depending on the college and branch. The rate for medical seats climbs much higher as there are very few seats on offer.

Fourth: Even on the CET, the issue has gone up to the Supreme Court. As the apex court has made the CET the basis for admission in at least three of its judgments on the question, it remains to be seen how it will deal with it when the substantive issue gets argued in due course.

This year of course, admissions will go on without a CET. At the end of the admission season, anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 engineering seats remain unfilled, most of them in colleges where students do not want to study, or in courses that may not be attractive to them. This will continue in 2007-08.