Students and their guardians had to wait in a serpentine queue at the helpline centre of the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) on the campus of the National Institute of Technology at Surathkal here on Friday, the second day of seat allotment.
The centre has been issuing admission orders since Thursday to students confirming the seats allotted by the authority.
Students and their parents from different parts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts started coming to the centre from 6 a.m. Following the rush on Thursday, the authority altered the process and asked only those between 1 and 40,000 ranks to come to the centre on Friday.
Those ranked till 15,000 were asked to come at 8 a.m., while those between 15,001 and 30,000 ranks were asked to come at 11 a.m. The students ranked between 30,001 and 40,000 were asked to come at 4 p.m. This schedule was communicated through SMS to the students.
The long queue at the centre came as a surprise to many students. “I should have come here by 8.30 a.m. I made the mistake of following the schedule,” said Suresh of Gangolli, who came with his daughter. “There should have been a better system of issuing admission orders and prevent us from standing for a long time. We are fortunate that there is no rain,” said Uday N.S., a lecturer from Subramanya, who accompanied his son. Apart from students who had been asked told to come as per the revised schedule, there were those who had come following earlier schedule where orders were issued regardless of the rank.
C. Suresh Thunga, KEA Nodal Officer at the centre, told The Hindu that 758 orders for admission to medical, engineering and other professional courses were issued till Thursday midnight. Till 2 p.m. on Friday, the centre issued orders to 400 students. “We will be issuing admission orders as per schedule,” he said. Mr. Tunga said orders would be issued only to those who had come with their parents.
“We have issued orders in some cases where I am convinced that the student is an orphan,” he added.
Admission orders for students from 40,001 to the last rank would be done at the centre between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday.
