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Polytechnic colleges losing sheen

Of the 2.11 lakh odd seats available about 50 per cent remained vacant in 2014-15

Chennai: It is not only that engineering colleges have lost their sheen but polytechnic colleges, which offer diploma courses too, it appears going by data. Of the 2.11 lakh odd seats available in over 350 polytechnics in the state, about 50 per cent remained vacant in 2014-15 academic year. According to the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE), of the 11,735 seats available in regular stream in 41 government run polytechnics, 10,220 students joined leaving 1,515 seats vacant.

Similarly, in 34 government-aided institutions (regular stream) out of 15,229 seats only 11,032 seats got filled up in various streams.Interestingly, there were no takers for 92,690 seats in private polytechnic colleges. There are 414 self-financing polytechnic colleges in the state with a total intake of 1,78,154 seats.Former chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Prof S.S. Mantha said the seats which went vacant could be from the branches that had no employment opportunities.

“In the past, industries employed diploma students from polytechnics but now with the automation in the shop floor and employment at supervisory level coming down, students have been left with fewer jobs. This could be a reason why vacancy is more,” he said.He pointed out that students who graduate from computer science, IT, mechanical, civil and electrical join engineering colleges in second year under the lateral entry category.

Noting that with more engineering colleges in the state, students join class 11 and 12 in schools to get a seat in an engineering college rather than a polytechnic, R. Sethuraman, chairman of Shanmuga Polytechnic College in Thanjavur said to attract more deserving students to the polytechnic institution they offer education free to students who score 450 and above marks in class 10.

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