News
The great engineering dream loses steam as more students turn to arts.
Year-on-year the number of aspirants taking the IIT-JEE examinations if falling by a small percent. Experts attribute the fall to various factors including changing attitudes towards engineering, preference to save a year to do MBA, falling job opportunities and poor quality of teaching.
Inspite of growing coaching and guidance centers for students wishing to do engineering the sheer number of candidates taking the joint entrance examination (JEE) for engineering institutes has dipped over the past 2 consecutive years, a first in the history of what is considered one of India’s toughest tests.
The figures clearly represent a downward trend – there was a reduction in the number of candidates taking the JEE by 27,000 compared to last year, and by a whopping 56,000 in 2015 when compared to the preceding year.
Overall, every year more than a million students take the 2-part test and the number has only risen by 20,000 to 30,000 every year since 2008.
So what explains the declining numbers, experts claim that social and attitude changes can be the reason. The younger generation today wants to chart their own course rather than following their parent’s example and enrolling in an engineering course. Additionally, fewer cushy jobs in engineering have made the students reconsider their options.
“More parents and students are now willing to experiment rather than take the traditional route,” said Lata Vaidyanathan, former principal of Delhi’s Modern School, Barakhamba Road.
The Human Resource Development Ministry is alert to the sliding numbers and has already called for a meeting with the IIT council next month, officials said.
The idea is also to assess if the trend mirrored a decreasing interest in science as is evident at the school level, they added.
Official data on enrolment in Indian schools show that Class XI students are gravitating towards humanities. According to academics this could be due to the increasing preference of students to study Economics and Mathematics – available under the humanities umbrella.
The decision could also be driven by the desire to save a year if the student wants to pursue an MBA later. A humanities course saves a year compared to an engineering college. This enables them to start their MBA course in advance thus making them ready for the market earlier.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta said he graduated from the Delhi College of Engineering before doing an MBA. “In hindsight, I would have rather done an honours course in economics and then MBA. It would have saved me a year,” he said.
In the opinion of coaching institutes, the numbers are falling as the market is not able to absorb engineers at the rate at which they are produced. Approximately, 800,000 engineering students graduate annually from 3,000-odd registered technical institutes.
“Engineers are not getting good jobs as earlier. There has been a reduction in the number of students coming here,” said Naveen Maheshwari, director of Allen Institute in southeast Rajasthan’s Kota—a popular coaching destination for competitive exam preparations.
But the IIT Council that is responsible for all Indian Institutes of Technology dismissed the speculation.
“There are almost 1.3 million students who sit for this exam; so the dip is not significant at all,” said Ashok Misra, chairman of the standing committee of the IIT Council. “Also, we have local colleges and students might be opting for that. All the same, it is good if more students are opting for humanities.”