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  • Students are choosing medical instead of engineering for higher education

    • 2020-01-20
    • https://english.newstracklive.com/news/students-are-choosing-medical-instead-of-engineering-for-higher-education-sc79-nu-1063949-1.html

    The attraction of students towards engineering has now come to a standstill. Apart from getting the exam twice a year, the number of JEE Mains candidates has fallen by 33% in the last seven years. At the same time, the number of students in the Medical Entrance Examination (NEET) has increased by 143 percent during this period. The National Testing Agency conducts Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) twice in January and April for admission to all major engineering institutes in India, including the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). There are 12 pass students. 9.21 lakh candidates had registered for the JEE Mains in January 2020. Only 8.69 lakh attended and 52 thousand did not appear for the examination. Apart from this, 15 lakh candidates have been registered for admission in MBBS this year in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).

    There were 12.34 lakh students in the JEE Mains held in 2014 and 6.16 lakh in the All India Pre-Medical Test (which was not Neet). NEET started in 2016, with 7.31 lakh students attending and growing since then. Both engineering and medicine are considered as major options for higher education in the country. Most of the examinees present in these are 'Millennials' i.e. born in the new millennium after 2000. Also, the declining trend towards engineering and increased interest in medicine reflects their changed outlook. According to experts, the trend has also increased in the country due to NEET having MBBS and BDS seats a year.

    Demand less number more
    The number of engineering graduates has more than doubled compared to demand. It is estimated that eight lakh engineers are being made every year, out of which five lakh are not getting employment. Jobs in multinational companies are full of uncertainties. Industries say engineering institutes are teaching older courses, which are less needed. BTech students from reputed colleges are also going for lesser jobs, while many are emphasizing on start-ups by joining Make in India and Skill India.

    Expensive education, no job
    Eight to 10 lakh students take expensive coaching for two to four years for admission to IIT, MNIT. There are 12,279 seats in 23 IITs, 18,602 in 31 NITs, 4023 in 24 TripleITs and 4703 seats in 24 central technical institutes. Together these and 10 major universities have got 40 thousand seats, which are considered prestigious. The rest of the students take admission in private colleges, apart from this, some do coaching at IITs. Up to 75% of seats in many private colleges remain vacant. The situation is that colleges are closing or running zero sessions. Engineers who have gone out of degrees are unable to get a proper job. More than 60 percent of engineers are applying for examinations like Bank Clerk, Railways, Patwari and are agreeing to work even on contract.

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