The pandemic-induced challenges failed to deter engineering aspirants in the State with more students qualifying for the B.Tech admissions this year. The results of the KEAM 2020 entrance examinations, which were declared by Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel on Thursday, saw 53,236 candidates securing eligibility for admissions, marking a significant increase of 7,639 compared to last year.
Boys outshone girls this year too by securing the top 9 ranks and 87 out of the top-100 ranks in the engineering entrance examination. The trend was in contrast with the pharmacy entrance results that were also announced with 58 girls figuring in the top-100 ranks, despite boys bagging seven out of the top-10 ranks.
Varun K.S. of Kottayam bagged the top position in the engineering entrance examination by securing a score of 593.6776. Gokul Govind T.K. of Kannur and Niyaz Mon P. of Malappuram came second and third respectively. Akshay K. Muraleedharan of Thrissur, Joyal James of Kasaragod and Aditya Byju of Kollam occupied the top-3 positions in the pharmacy entrance examination.
Jagan M.J. of Kollam and Neema P. Manikandan of Kannur topped the rankings in the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe categories respectively in the engineering entrance.
As many as 71,742 students had appeared for the entrance examination that was conducted in 342 centres, three of which were in New Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai. Of those who figured in the first 5,000 ranks, 2,280 candidates had completed the Plus Two level in the Kerala state syllabus, while 2,477 were students of the CBSE stream.
Sixty-six students among the top-100 rankers had appeared for the engineering entrance examination for the first time. The increasing number of those clearing the examination in their first attempt bore testament to the quality of general education in the State, Dr. Jaleel opined. He added the allotment process to engineering and pharmacy courses will commence on September 29.
The entrance examination was held on July 16 amid widespread panic and travel difficulties caused by COVID-19. While three students who underwent treatment for the infection were permitted to take the examination from hospitals, the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations had arranged a special examination centre in Valiyathura for the candidates who hailed from the critical containment zones of Thiruvananthapuram.
