Telengana stir causing delay in announcement of Eamcet counselling for close to two months

Updated on: Monday, August 12, 2013

Andhra Pradesh has lost quite a bit of its young tech talent pool to neighbouring states this year, with the protest over formation of Telangana taking centre stage and the government failing to announce Eamcet counselling for close to two months.

With no signs of counselling taking place immediately here, engineering college managements said a whopping 40,000 students out of a total 1.5 lakh, who had cleared Eamcet this year, have taken admission in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Rajeswar Reddy, general secretary, Consortium of Private Engineering College Management's Association said, "The state council of higher education moved the file asking the government to conduct counselling for just convener quota seats. But the file has not been signed by the ministers concerned so far. We are expecting very poor student strength this year, owing to this debacle."

Eamcet counselling was first delayed by three weeks with some college managements opposing the state government's decision to conduct online counselling for management quota seats. While a petition was filed in AP High Court, the state government wanted to conduct counselling for at least the convener quota seats, but with most officials in the Secretariat busy with Telangana or Seemandhra protests, the move did not materialize.

If Eamcet counselling gets further delayed, more students are expected to leave the state, college officials rued. Reddy said the government should make a quick move and release the notification so that more students do not leave the state.

Many meritorious students have taken admission in private deemed universities, officials pointed out. A college official said, "The cream of our young tech talent have taken admission in deemed universities this year, unlike the previous years where they would take admission in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University or even top private colleges located in Hyderabad and surrounding areas."

Officials of higher education department feel that they might not be able to conduct counselling even after the government approves it. "We had to postpone Icet counselling in Seemandhra region due to protests. If students can't get their certificates verified due to trouble in the region we will not be able to announce the counselling dates," said an official. Counselling dates are expected to be released only after a few weeks, an official said. "The ministers expected to clear the files in the coming weeks. Students will have to wait a bit more," an official said.

AP High court rapped the higher education for not conducting counselling on time after some peeved students approached it against the state government for causing a delay in counselling. The higher education department was also rapped by the HC for not conducting counselling on time.

Telengana stir causing delay in announcement of Eamcet counselling for close to two months

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