BHUBANESWAR: It seems home science has slipped to the bottom of students’ wish list in the lone agriculture university in the State.
This year, 21 seats in the College of Home Science of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) have remained vacant even after the first round of admission.
Last week, while all seats in Agriculture, Veterinary, Fisheries, Agricultural Engineering, Forestry and Horticulture streams were filled up in the first phase counselling, 21 seats remained vacant in Home Science stream.
OUAT’s College of Home Science has four departments of food and nutrition, child development, family resource management and textile, clothing and home management.
Apart from these, students are given exposure to various rural development programmes and extension education.
The College of Home Science was established under OUAT in 1981.
Academicians said lack of jobs is the primary reason why students are no longer preferring to enrol in home science.
The existing students of the subject said contrary to their peers in agriculture, veterinary science, animal husbandry, agriculture engineering, fishery and forestry colleges, who are being recruited by various Government departments, they do not get good jobs.
They claimed that States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu provide home science graduate jobs in their respective Women and Child Development (WCD) department.
These recruitments take place either on the basis of marks or through reservation. In Odisha, recruiters often think that home science course is related only to home management, they added.
Last year, the home science graduates of OUAT had resorted to agitation demanding jobs as Child Development Project Officers in Integrated Child Development Service of WCD Department.
Meanwhile, the higher authorities of the university are hopeful that some seats may be filled up in the subsequent counselling sessions. “The counselling for these 21 seats would be held in August,” said Prof Bijay Kumar Mishra, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Chairman (admissions). Classes of various under graduate courses in the university will begin from July 30.