Thiruvananthapuram: Two engineering colleges under the Kerala University have registered less than 10 percent pass in the BTech examinations in March 2014.
In the Hindusthan College of Engineering, Aripa, Kollam, of the 92 students who wrote the examinations, only five passed (5.43 percent).
In the Archana College of Engineering, Alappuzha, out of the 139 students who wrote the examination, only 13 passed (9.35 percent).
In the UKF College of Engineering, Paripally, the pass percentage for electrical and electronics is only 3.13. In the St Thomas College of Engineering, Alappuzha, the pass percentage for mechanical engineering is only 3.64. As many as seven colleges have less than 20 percent pass and 13 colleges less than 30 percent.
This has been included in the result analysis prepared by the Kerala University Computer Centre.
The low pass percentage came at a time when the state government has kept on the back burner its earlier proposal to impose strict norms for continuing approval for admission to BTech courses in self-financing colleges as part of its efforts to improve the quality of these institutions.
As per the norms, the approval will be extended only to those colleges following strict academic standards from 2015-16. The norms were based on the report of an expert committee appointed by the High Court for studying the problems of the self -financing engineering colleges.
The norms had pointed out that self-financing engineering colleges having minimum pass percentage of 25, 30 and 35 respectively for fourth, sixth and eighth semester will be given approval for admissions.
Mr G.P.C. Nayar, national president, Federation of Associations of Private Unaided Professional Colleges, told DC that the low pass percentage reflected the fall in the standards of education in the state.
This was the result of the 100 percent pass system in the secondary education due to the liberal valuation. “We cannot improve the higher education sector without rectifying the defects in the secondary education sector,” Mr Nayar said.
