Over 30K from J&K get admission in colleges under PM's scheme

Over 3,000 students from Jammu and Kashmir have secured admission in various professional and other colleges outside the state under the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS), the highest ever from the state.
This was told to state Education Minister Naeem Akhtar during his visit to Amar Singh College here where the first round of counselling under PMSSS concluded today, said an official spokesman.
He said out of 2,401 engineering seats, 2,372 were filled, while out of 1,089 seats in general courses, 842 were filled till this evening.
Besides, 159 seats filled in medical courses will also be covered under PMSSS, taking the total number of seats to be filled to 3,373, he added.

This is the highest number of students from the state to have made it to various colleges under PMSSS. Last year, only 900 had secured admission under PMSSS outside the state, said the spokesman.
The counselling, which began on July 26, was simultaneously conducted at Amar Singh College here and Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu.

Akhtar said 6,027 students from the state had registered under PMSSS for admission in colleges outside the state for the current academic session.
"It is heartening to note that most of them have made it to reputed colleges, including Delhi College of Engineering, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, St Stephens College, Delhi, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Rohtak, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi etc.," he said.

The state's Education Department and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had fine-tuned the admission procedure under PMSSS to ensure admission of students only in recognised and reputed colleges, he added.
"As per PMSSS rules, first preference is to be given to those who have passed their class 12 examination during the last academic session but we would ensure that the unfilled seats in the reserved categories and general courses are converted into engineering seats so that the maximum number of students, including those from the 2014-15 batch, are accommodated," he said, adding that scholarships worth Rs 75 crore were available for students of the state under PMSSS for the current financial year.