The scheduling of the general elections in Kerala has necessitated the postponement of the entrance examinations for admission to engineering courses in the State.
The examinations are currently slated to be held on April 22 (Physics and Chemistry) and April 23 (Mathematics) with the second day clashing with the polls in the State.
Confirming the development, Commissioner for Entrance Examinations A. Geetha has said that examinations will be rescheduled and that a proposal in this regard will be submitted to the State government at the earliest.
Posing logistical hurdles, the authorities have been left with reworking the schedule in a manner that it does not clash with the polls in Mumbai and New Delhi, both of which will also have examination centres. Besides these centres, the entrance examinations will also be conducted in Dubai.
It is estimated that over 300 centres, set up in schools and colleges, will be required for the conduct of the engineering entrance examinations, the schedule for which was declared on December 26. As many as 93,467 candidates have submitted applications for the engineering entrance examinations.
Official sources also pointed to the likelihood of the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) – UG for admissions to medical and dental courses, which has been scheduled for May 5, being reworked in view of the poll schedule.
The fifth phase of the elections will be held on May 6 in seven States. A total of 96,726 candidates have applied for the medical and dental courses in the State. Admissions to the courses will be made on the basis of the NEET ranks.
Fall in applications
There has been a marked decrease in the number of applications that have been submitted for the entrance examinations to medical, engineering and other courses. A total of 1,42,921 applications were submitted, a fall of 12,282 when compared to the previous year.
