HYDERABAD: Over 43,000 more candidates appeared for the Telangana Engineering Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (TS-Eamcet) this year when compared to 2020. A primary reason: the Covid-19 pandemic, said experts. While many students took the test to keep their options open — as is the case in most years — several others chose Eamcet because they want to stay back in Telangana for their education, given the current situation, experts added.
As many as 1,47, 991 candidates appeared for the engineering stream exam this year as opposed to 1,19,183 last year. The agriculture and medical stream saw 79, 009 candidates take the test. In 2020 this number stood at 63,857.
“It is likely that all engineering seats will get filled this year as many are looking at joining colleges in Telangana amid the pandemic. In fact, this year, the number of qualified candidates is higher than total number of engineering seats in the state,” said A Govardhan, rector, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad and convenor, TS-Eamcet 2021. He added that going by registrations and number of candidates appearing for the exam, many from the Telugu states are likely to opt for a seat here.
Govardhan’s claim was seconded by Satti Trinadha Rao, whose son Karthikeya secured first rank in the state. He said he wouldn’t rule out his son opting to study engineering at JNTU-H.“While IIT, Bombay is his first choice, we would fall back on JNTU-H if the need arises,” said Rao, a civil engineer.
The fact that the test was conducted before other entrance exams, including JEE and NEET, organised by Centre, and the deadline (to enrol) was extended multiple times giving aspirants four months to apply for the test — as against the usual 35 to 40 days every year — are also being cited as other reasons for more students appearing for Eamcet-2021.
Some academics, meanwhile, maintained that the test provided more options. “It is good to have multiple options at times like these as there is a lot of uncertainty. I think students and their parents want to explore all possibilities just in case some exams get postponed or cancelled,” said Sushma Bopanna, academic director, Sri Chaitanya Group. As many as 7 out of top10 rankers in engineering stream and 9 out of top 10 rankers in AM stream are students of Sri Chaitanya Group.
