The race for engineering seats has become more intense this year, so much so that Anna University has run out of application forms just ten days after the sale of applications began. The university has already sold the two lakh engineering forms it had printed this year, and is in the process of printing more
It has also suspended the sale of forms for three days – Monday to Wednesday. Sales will resume on May 24 and will go on till May 31. The last date for submission of forms has been extended to June 6.
Nearly 40,000 sets of application forms, coding sheets, information booklets and brochures are being printed to meet the demand. “The forms will take two days to reach 59 centres, including the newly instituted one in Tiruppur,” said V. Rhymend Uthariaraj, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA).
Class XII students who are awaiting their results, scheduled to be announced on May 22, are now immensely relieved. Earlier this week, the School Education Department had announced that mark sheets would be handed over to students only on May 30, which left them with just a day to submit the forms. D. Sabitha, Secretary, School Education Department, said the department had written to Anna University to extend the last date for submission of forms.
P. Mannar Jawahar, vice-chancellor, Anna University, told The Hindu that the extension would help students, especially candidates from out of town, whose forms might not have otherwise reached on time.
In Chennai, the forms are being sold at Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet, Government Polytechnic College, Pursaiwakkam and Bharathi Government Women's College, Broadway.
Students can submit forms online, but only after the announcement of results. “The candidate has to send photocopies of the documents, including mark sheets, photograph, transfer certificate and other required certificates,” said Mr. Uthariaraj. Most students prefer buying forms to filling them online, as they can get the information booklets from the centres instead of having to get a print out. Many students and their parents who have come to Chennai to buy the forms were dismayed by the development and were concerned about having to spend three days in the city. P. Dhanush Kumar, who had come all the way from Dharmapuri, said: “I came here because the officials at the government arts college there said the forms were over. But it's the same here.” He plans to stay here till Wednesday in a lodge and go back with the forms. N. Velmurugun, a parent from Erode, however, decided to head back home with his daughter. “We will come back on March 30.”
The increase in the number of applicants is attributed to many reasons. “Biology students have also bought engineering forms as the number of seats in medical colleges has not increased. Aspirants for seats in medicine also feel that the cut-offs will be lower this time, and last year's toppers have a better chance,” said Mr. Uthariaraj. Also in 2011, Anna University began application sales a couple of days after the results and only those eligible for admission bought the forms.
