Engineering aspirants fight against time and crowd at certificates centre

Even as the last date for submitting engineering admission forms approaches today, chaos prevailed at the Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) in the District Collector's office, where angry parents waited to get certificates essential for admissions. More than 1,000 people had filed applications for caste, domicile and non-creamy layer certificates (for students from Other Backward Classes and Nomadic Tribes), which they have to submit along with application forms for reasons of eligibility.

Rush hour: The chaos at the Citizen Facilitation Centre in the District
Collector's Office. Pic/Krunal Gosavi

As the day wore on, it became evident that the limited staff could not handle the high number of applications and tension grew among parents. A couple of days ago, the AICTE dropped the eligibility criteria for those applying for engineering admissions from a minimum of 50 per cent to 45 per cent, paving the way for thousands of students to apply for engineering seats. But the board has designated only two days, July 7 and July 8, for submission of forms.

"Looking at the rush and the number of applicants, we doubt if we will get the certificates in time. An extension of date must be given to get these documents, otherwise many students will not be able to submit their forms and it would be a great injustice," said a parent, requesting anonymity. DTE officials said that there was no communication from the higher and technical education officials for any extension in dates for submission.

Admission open to external students in UoP
After the long-drawn debates over allowing or discontinuing external students' admissions in the University of Pune (UoP), the university has finally announced on its website that admissions for them would begin on July 11. About 1.25 lakh students apply for admissions externally or through correspondence courses every year. The forms will be available online on www.mkcl.ws, the website of Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL).