AICTE lowers eligibility criteria for engineering courses
06 Jul 2011
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has relaxed the eligibility criteria for engineering courses from 50 per cent marks in Class 12 (in physics, chemistry and math or PCM) to 45 per cent for general category candidates and 40 per cent for reserved category candidates.
According to S S Mantha, chairman of AICTE, who spoke to The Indian Express newspaper, the relaxation was mandatory for states to follow. He added that it had been relaxed in view of demographics. He said some children studied in good schools and some had to study in not so good schools but they had talent this way they would get admission.
On seats not being filled which was seen as a reason for the move, according to the AICTE chairman, this was mostly the case in streams that were not so popular or in rural areas.
He added overall there were 10-per cent vacant seats and they were not evenly distributed.
According to union minister for human resource development Kapil Sibal the relaxation in the norms by the advisory body followed an upsurge in the demand for these courses.
He added the government had to ultimately relax the norms due to the fact that the demand was huge. He added it also depended on the market. He said it all depended on the market, and the government had to address the huge demand.