Hyderabad: Governments in both Telangana State and AP are planning to scrap Eamcet from next year. They claim that the common admission process for 10 years, as specified in the AP Reorganisation Act, has proven to be a big disaster in its very first year. Their argument is that Eamcet has lost its relevance as 1.5 lakh seats are remaining empty. They said seats can be filled by taking Intermediate (10+2) marks into account, like it is done in Tamil Nadu.
Since this was the first year of common admissions, the teething troubles were expected and there is scope for rectifying the defects in subsequent years. However, both the governments ignored this fact in their battle for oneupmanship. TS education minister Jagadishwar Reddy and his AP counterpart Ganta Srinivasa Rao have been openly airing their views against Eamcet stating that ‘it's a futile exercise’. Though the Act has guaranteed common admission for 10 years to protect the interests of students of both the states, the entire process was derailed with each state trying to gain an upper hand over who should conduct the admissions, resulting in thousands of students losing seats in some of the better colleges.
Also, the second and third phases of counselling were cancelled, following Supreme Court directions. The SC took governments to task for failure to start the first phase of counselling at the earliest due to unnecessary tussles, despite the Act clearly stating that APSCHE has to conduct common admissions. The TS government had set up TSCHE in a haste to counter APSCHE, leading to both the state approaching the courts and delaying the admissions. Mr Reddy, who put the blame on APSCHE for the mess, briefed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that thousands of students in both the states suffered due to common admissions this year and that it cannot be continued next year.
He requested him to seek permission from the Centre to allow TS to conduct its own admissions from next year. Mr Srinivas Rao also said he brought the issue of scrapping Eamcet to the notice of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and is waiting for his decision. If that happens, top scoring students in Intermediate, from poorer sections, who cannot afford costly colleges, will be at a loss for not being able to secure seats in best colleges.
