Andhra: Who wants to be an engineer any more?

HYDERABAD: Engineering has lost its sheen for students in the state. The ongoing counselling for admission to engineering colleges provided an indication in this regard with only 80,000 candidates out of the 1.2 lakh called for verification of certificates turning up in the past four days. About 40,000 candidates stayed away from counselling. Officials suspect most of the top Eamcet rankers have opted for IITs and other national-level engineering colleges, resulting in fewer students turning up for the verification process. Teachers attribute the development to declining standards in engineering education, lack of proper infrastructure in colleges and also scarce employment opportunities.Web counselling for Eamcet students commenced on Sunday. Students can state their preferred choice of engineering courses and colleges on the Internet. Candidates who secured ranks from 1 to 30,000, have to give their options before 8 a.m. Tuesday. Other rankers can give their options over the next week on the prescribed dates after verification of their certificates.“Only 24,000 students of the first 30,000 rankers attended verification of certificates across the state. About 16,000 gave their options through web counselling till 5 p.m. on Sunday,” said K Raghunath, camp officer at the counselling centre in Masab Tank.