Engineering aspirants policed at farcical counselling show

CHENNAI: Day 1 of

Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions

(TNEA) counselling on Monday picked up where last year’s admissions left off: A farcical, poorly organised show at which the authorities herded 2,000 aspirants like livestock behind police barricades on

Anna University’s Guindy campus

as they waited for officials to allot seats in

colleges with vocational courses

.

The poorly arranged counselling is worth mentioning not only because TNEA officials appear to believe that this is the best way to go about the admission process, and are likely to continue in this fashion every year, but also because of the stark contrast it made with counselling at many private

engineering

colleges, where everything is orderly and efficient and students, instead of sweating in the heat outdoors, await their turns in airconditioned halls.

As several students who participated in Monday’s five sessions for admission to vocational courses in colleges observed, Anna University does not lack the facilities to conduct the counselling in conditions less arduous for aspirants.

“I had to walk to the canteen every time I wanted a drink of water,” Coimbatore student A Akash said. “There were no bubbletops in sight near the queue. The university could have accommodated us inside one of their large halls or auditoriums.”

Parents who accompanied many of the students to the counselling also fumed that officials did not even arrange for chairs for them to sit on as their wards awaited their turns.

Many aspirants said it was hard to locate restrooms for women, but the most common complaint was the lack of basic seating arrangements.

One parent said the arrangements by TNEA, which had to accommodate only 2,000 applicants for vocational admissions against a capacity of 6,224, and the well-conducted counselling sessions at many private colleges were as different as chalk and cheese.

Some families who had come to Chennai from as far away as Dindigul and Coimbatore waited from 7am for the counselling to start. When the sun grew hotter as the hours passed and with no visible seating facilities, many parents moved into the corridors of the nearest varsity building. When there was no space left in the corridors, several parents spilled out onto the walkways and under the sun again.

Students made similar complaints during the application stage in May. Varsity officials had then made parents and students, who arrived to clear their doubts or make corrections in application forms, wait outside administrative blocks without any access to drinking water or restrooms.

“I was lucky to find the line to submit my certificates,” said Balaji, a candidate from the city. “But a friend of mine walked around the campus at least thrice before he found a place.”

Addressing the news media on Monday, minister for higher education K P Anbalagan stated that the university had made arrangements to meet the needs of parents.

“Accommodation has been arranged for those who have forenoon and late afternoon counselling sessions,” he said.

But on the university campus, near the barricaded students whose parents hovered anxiously nearby, that did not appear to be the case.