Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 5: In the light of economic crisis let loose by coronavirus and high fee charged by private educational institutions, there has been a marked increase in the number of students seeking admission into the government degree colleges in the state. Most of the seats are full, and the additional admissions this year in the 430 government colleges has touched the staggering figure of 50,000. The department therefore has permitted to increase the admissions and to upwardly revise the level of intake fixed earlier.

Normally, 85,000 out of two lac seats available used to remain vacant in these colleges every year in normal course. But this time, 1.65 lac seats have been filled and students will also be admitted through lateral entry. These students are awaiting the result of their diploma examination.

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It is assumed that there has been an abnormal increase in the admission of students in these colleges also because of the fact that the students were declared having cleared the examinations without actually conducting the examinations and testing their knowledge, because of the prevailing coronavirus situation. In the year 2021, 6.66 lac students who registered for PU examination passed the examination. In the normal course, every year, about two lac students fail in this examination. The inability of the parents to pay high fees charged by the private institutions because of the coronavirus effect has also contributed to this phenomenon.

There has been a considerable tilt towards the commerce stream this time. Sixty percent of the students are seeking admission into commerce courses. While commerce is the preferred subject by the students of south Karnataka, in north Karnataka, the students have shown interest in art subjects. However, the officials of the department say that they are still unable to provide accurate statistics and other figures.

The government has ordered the appointment of 14,000 guest lecturers to meet the shortage of teaching staff. Therefore, the students will not face any problem in getting time-bound teaching.

Commissioner in the department of collegiate education, Dr P Pradeep, said that classes are now conducted on shift basis on the basis of available infrastructure, because of the increase in the student admissions this time.