Engineering graduates in large numbers are queuing up to get admissions into B.Ed colleges that have opened their doors for the first time to technology students.
More than 3,000 engineering graduates have applied for the Telangana State Education Common Entrance Test (EdCET) this year and the number is likely to go up. The quality of engineering graduates will not be poor in this test as they have to attain minimum of 55 per cent in B.Tech to gain eligibility.
“It is noteworthy that engineering students with good academic records are applying,” says P. Prasad, convenor, TS Ed.CET. The graduates are, however, eligible for mathematics and physical science methodologies only. “They are skilled and their entry into teaching at the school level will benefit rural students,” feels Prof. Prasad.
Waning glamour in software jobs and severe competition in the IT market is making engineers to opt for teaching jobs.
“B.Ed offers scope for getting into the government sector and we don’t hesitate to work in villages. Salaries of teachers are now more respectable than other professions,” says Mahesh, an aspirant.
So far, 63,600 candidates have applied for Ed.CET this year compared to 1.16 lakh from Telangana last year when the test was held in the combined State. He attributes the fall in number to the two-year B.Ed course being introduced from this year.
Till last year, it was just one-year course and many had applied to save an academic year. Maximum applications were for social studies (30,028) followed by biological sciences (15,333), mathematics (12,788), physical sciences (4,303) and English (869).
Last date for applying for the exam is May 21 and it will be held on June 6 in 138 centres in 13 cities of Telangana. Hall tickets can be downloaded from May 31 from ‘www.tsedcet.org’.
