3 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
One-fifth of private TN polytechnic colleges opt out of admissions
CHENNAI: As many as 80 — or one-fifth — of the 401 private polytechnic colleges in Tamil Nadu have opted out of the admission process this academic year. The unprecedented development has brought to light the issues ailing polytechnic education — at private institutions in particular — where colleges and seats are aplenty, but takers few.
According to officials of the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE), of these 80 colleges, 35 have applied for permanent closure in the last two years, while the remaining have chosen not to admit students this year. 'Some of these colleges have failed to enrol students even in single-digit figures in the last three years. Hence, we have not asked them to join admissions,' said an official.
Experts attribute the declining enrolment to the rising interest among students in engineering courses and the high fees charged by private polytechnic colleges. 'When a student can study a course in a government college for just Rs 2,500 a year, why would they want to spend Rs 30,000 in a private college,' said the principal of a private college in Coimbatore.
P Selvaraj, secretary of the Consortium of Self-financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges in TN, said private polytechnic colleges are struggling to fill even half their seats and operational costs are taking a toll on their survival.
