The response to engineering courses in the Kannada medium has been poor this year, too. In the second round of counselling for the Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) recently, not even one student opted for the course.
The four year B.Sc Honours course in engineering colleges launched by the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) two years ago has also elicited poor response. Only a few students have opted for the course in at the KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi.
The State government is expected to discontinue these two courses, which were launched with the ambition of implementing the National Education Policy (NEP), sources said.
In accordance with the NEP’s recommendations, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) permitted engineering universities to offer engineering education in regional languages. The VTU offered the course in the 2021-22 academic year, and translated all the course material from English to Kannada, making it available to students.
Some institutions, including the SJC Institute of Technology in Chickballapur, the Bheemanna Khandre Institute of Technology (BKIT) in Bhalki, and the Maharaja Institute of Technology in Mysuru began offering engineering courses in Kannada.
In 2021-22, 17 students opted for the Kannada engineering courses and seven students secured admission to the college, but all seven students withdrew their admission and joined regular engineering courses conducted in English.
Only one student opted for the course at the BKIT in the CET counselling for the academic year 2022-23, but withdrew his admission a few days later to join a regular engineering course.
No demand
Based on the NEP’s proposal for better utilisation of classrooms and laboratory facilities, the VTU permitted four-year B.Sc. Honours courses with a capacity of 40 seats each in 50 engineering colleges. However, only four engineering colleges offered the B.Sc engineering course.
In 2022-23, only 32 students enrolled for the course.
“The response to the Kannada engineering and B.Sc. Honours courses has not been encouraging. After this year’s admission status, we will take a decision on the continuation of these courses,” S. Vidyashankar, Vice-Chancellor, VTU, told The Hindu.
In addition, the Congress government has already announced its decision to withdraw the NEP in the State, and is planning to enforce a separate State Education Policy (SEP). Sources said this could well mean the closure of the two courses.
“The Kannada medium engineering course and B.Sc. Honours course are products of the NEP. We have already decided to withdraw the NEP. We will review the response of the students to this course since three years and verify how many students have opted for them and then take an appropriate decision,” M.C. Sudhakar, Minister of Higher and Technical Education, said.
