Concern over vacant seats in Pondy polytechnic colleges

Electricity and Education Minister R Kamalakannan Saturday expressed concern over a number of vacant seats in government polytechnic colleges here.

Addressing reporters, he said only 721 students sought admission in diploma courses as against 1,512 seats available in the six colleges.

This is a matter of concern when the government has spent copious funds on infrastructure and amenities in the colleges, he said announcing the decision of the government to admit students from neighbouring states to the courses.

On an average, the government spends Rs 1.10 lakh per student to meet their academic requirements and other facilities in the colleges.

In the last few years, there have been less number of students in the colleges, he said while appealing to the students from neighbouring Tamilnadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to join the institutions.

Kamalakannan said Mahe region, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala, has seen 17 students from Puducherry joining the polytechnic courses while 48 students were from Kerala.

Referring to the predicament of students graduating from the government-run agricultural college PAJANCOA in Karaikal, he said a wrong decision was taken in the past to delink the college from the purview of the TNAU-Coimbatore and was affiliated to Pondicherry University.

He said the students graduating in B Sc agriculture course were now finding it difficult to go in for PG courses in TNAU and Annamalai University.

PAJANCOA is sponsored with the cooperation of ICAR and the government had taken steps to ensure that graduates from the college did not face any difficulty in getting admission to PG courses in the TNAU and in Annamalai university.

'A letter written to ICAR has evoked a good reply and students would now face no difficulty to go in for PG courses, he said.

In the meanwhile the government was planning to have a state-level Agriculture University by bringing the Krishi Vigyan Kendras in Puducherry and Karaikal, the Veterinary college and the Agriculture College in Karaikal under its purview.

Referring to the admission scenario in the arts and science colleges during the current academic year, Kamalakannan said B.Com course had attracted a large number of applicants.

He said the 11 arts and science colleges had a total intake of 6,000 seats and around 17,000 candidates have applied aspiring for arts and science groups.