The Hindu education plus career counseling and guidance session was a grand success drawing a huge crowd of students and parents in Bidar on Sunday.
Resource persons from various fields addressed students about the various career choices available to them in different fields. Students also got to interact with Sangeeta Kattimani, KEA nodal officer who coordinates the common entrance test seat selection process in Kalaburgi.
She said that the state government was expected to announce the seat matrix on June 14. ``But before that, you have to get your documents verified. Online option entry will be opened up from June 15,’’ she informed. All seats are allotted in a single day to all eligible candidates through a computerized process. Option entry system is transparent and easy to use. It is an ideal model for the whole country, she said. Students could change their choices many times, but each time they should save them and submit the final choice list to the KEA. They should visit the KEA website every day to look for alerts and instructions.
She asked students to choose colleges and courses based on their choices. That is because you can not get a seat in a college that you have not chosen. Also, the higher your rank, the higher is your possibility of getting the seat of your choice. She said students had to place their priorities according to their own personal choices and not on whether their best friend is choosing a particular college or course. There are 218 engineering colleges and 44 medical colleges in the state. But you have to choose what you want, she said.
A student who drops out of a course, will not get the same course in later years. But he can get seats in other streams. If a candidate’s parental income is less than Rs 6 lakh per year, then his or her tuition fees are waived off, she said. But you have to produce documents to support claims of income, caste, or other categories.
Rajesh Kamtikar, assistant professor in the Bidar institute of medical sciences gave details of the National eligibility and entrance test. He spoke of the format of the test and how it would help students get seats in national level. This year, students of Karnataka should not worry as CET is valid. By next year, the format may change, he said. There is still some confusion about it, but it will be hopefully cleared soon, he said.
Prakash Nikam, superintendent of police inaugurated the event. He related his story of how he went from a small boy in a village a member of the elite Indian Police Service. I studied till high school in my village in Nashik district in Maharashtra to join a pre university college in a district head quarter town and then to Pune to study engineering. I joined Infosys and spent two years in America. But then, I quit and came back to take up advanced farming. Then I prepared for the civil services and got into the IPS, he said.
He asked students to study well about emerging career opportunities and new trends in job markets. You have to choose well, based on your taste and ability to learn a new subject, he said. He advised parents not to force their choices on their children. Don’t get into the mad race for medicine or engineering seats, he said.
Dr Khaja Mohteshamuddin, career counselor spoke in detail about the various opportunities in higher education in the streams of arts, commerce and science. According to a human resource management survey, there are around 14,000 different types of careers. Follow your heart and study what you like. You should choose a subject that you will never be tired of studying,’’ he said. He also asked students not to choose a career based on predictions about which field would have the most jobs in future years. Do what you like and do it well, you will succeed, he said.
M. S Lokesh, dean of the college of horticulture, announced that a new college of horticulture engineering and food processing would be set up in Haveri this year.
Vivek Patil of the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and fisheries sciences university introduced all courses related to farm sciences. Durgesh Shastry spoke of a career in engineering.
A question and answer session was organised at the end. The Zilla Rang Mandir that has around 700 seats, was full well before the event started. Students began pouring in and 250 additional chairs had to be put up in the aisle and the gallery outside the hall to accommodate students. Despite this, around 80 students had to sit on the stage to listen to speakers.
Prakash, principal of GM Institute of Technology, inaugurated the career counselling event at Davangere
