Vocational stream students who came to attend engineering counselling were disappointed to find that the facilities that would have made their counselling process smooth and easy were not in place.
In the past several years, the University had evolved a well-oiled system to update parents and candidates about the vacancy position in colleges as counselling progressed. There would be display boards showing the cut-off and their counselling session time.
Signage at strategic points would clearly indicate directions to toilets and the health centre, enabling candidates to get their medical fitness certificates. In recent years, banks had also been putting up stalls offering candidates and parents details of bank loans, besides an information kiosk to guide candidates. The University usually puts up tents under which parents and candidates can wait for their respective sessions. On Monday, which was day 1 of counselling, none of these facilities were in place.
A candidate from Kumarapalayam near Erode, whose session was at 5 p.m., had arrived at the venue around noon with his mother and cousin. He said he had no idea what his chances were in getting the college of his choice.
“Usually candidates can see the vacancy position on the LED display board. They used to update the website during counselling. We could also download an app on our phone and look up the details. But this time there was nothing to go by,” said Guru*, who was hoping for a seat in a self-financing college in Coimbatore.
While University officials said all the arrangements would be made by Sunday when the academic counselling begins, Guru’s family was disappointed. “Three years ago, I came for counselling for my cousin. We had all the details when we went into the counselling room. Are students from vocational stream any less qualified than those from academic stream?” asked Guru’s cousin, an alumnus of the University.
Higher Education Minister K.P. Anbalagan, who distributed the allotment letters to the top 10 candidates in the vocational stream, said all the facilities would be made in the coming days. He said facilities were in place for girl candidates to stay on campus if they were accompanied by a woman relative.
Nine sessions, 60 students
During academic counselling, there will be nine sessions on each day and each session will accommodate 60 instead of 50 students. “Candidates who do not come for verification of their sports certificates on July 19 and 20 would not be allowed to participate in counselling on July 21,” he said.
A total of 1,809 candidates are eligible for counselling under sports quota and are expected to participate in the certificate verification process.
* Name changed on request
