CHENNAI: The government initiative of holding online coaching classes for Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) last year seems to have borne fruit as the percentage of qualifiers from Tamil Nadu has doubled this year.
According to the State Higher Education Department, the percentage rose to 10.3 per cent in GATE 2020-21 from 4.91 per cent in GATE- 2019-20. Encouraged by the success, the department has chalked out a detailed blueprint to widen the reach of GATE coaching in government engineering colleges across the State.
Apart from serving as a gateway to postgraduate engineering admissions in India, the test serves as a touchstone for appointments to entry-level positions in different Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) in the country.
Last year, online GATE coaching classes were held for nearly 2,500 students of government engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, according to officials from the department. “We have plans to provide GATE coaching to more students in government engineering colleges; we will roll out the project soon.
Our aim is to improve the percentage of GATE qualifiers from Tamil Nadu,” Higher Education Secretary D Karthikeyan told TNIE. The department is likely to focus on students in government engineering colleges in towns and rural areas for coaching.
Department officials also said they have plan to teach languages such as German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and French to final year students of government and aided engineering colleges from this year. The course would be extended to students of first, second, and third year later. The move is to improve their opportunities in research and employment abroad.
GATE online lectures are prepared by Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) institutions for six major streams — mechanical; civil; electrical and electronics; electronics and communication; computer science and engineering; and chemical engineering.
No call yet on full reopening of schools
When asked about reopening of schools for primary classes, School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Sunday said, “We will assess the situation for the first 15 days and then decide on reopening schools for lower grades, based on the Chief Minister’s orders.” Regarding Classes 9-12, he said schools have been asked to conduct refresher courses for 45 days before beginning regular classes