PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry government has waived off the application fee for admissions to professional and other courses in colleges through CENTAC on a day when admissions began.
Announcing this at a press conference after releasing the CENTAC admission brochure for admissions to various courses on Friday, the Puducherry Education Minister A Namassivayam said that online applications to non-NEET based undergraduate professional courses and Arts, Science, and Commerce courses for the academic year 2021-2022 through the centralised admission committee had commenced on Friday.
The students can submit their applications through the CENTAC website www.centacpuducherry.in. The last date for submitting online applications is August 31, 2021.
Due to Covid-19, people have been affected and hence the government has decided not to charge application fees from students, except NRI (Non-Resident Indians) and OCI (Overseas Citizens of India). Around Rs 300 to Rs 500 is charged as an application fee based on the course and the reserved category.
For NEET-based courses, the admissions will be announced after the NEET results.
There are a total of 8167 seats in non-NEET-based courses for which students can seek admission. Among them, 4260 seats are in the Arts, Science, and Commerce streams, while 3907 seats are in professional courses, he said.
With everyone declared passed in 12th standard, it is expected that more students will be seeking admission to colleges. In these circumstances, the government will ensure admissions for all students by conducting classes in shift system and in alternate premises, said Namassivayam.
With regard to the reopening of schools, a decision will be taken after August 15 following an assessment of the Covid situation and in consultation with Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor, he said.
New education policy
The new education policy has been received by the government on Thursday night and after reviewing it, a decision on its implementation will be taken, said Namassivayam. A decision on starting engineering courses in Tamil will also be discussed and a decision will be taken.