NEW DELHI: If the number of students showing interest in seeking admission in the country’s engineering colleges is any indication, then the great Indian fetish to become an engineer is on the downswing.
The dream to become a doctor is the new fad. Data compiled by the National Testing Agency that organizes entrance tests for engineering and medical colleges shows that while 8.69 lakh students had registered for the first JEE Main this year, the number was nearly 16 lakh for NEET, scheduled to be held in May.
The JEE (Main) is organised twice a year while NEET, the test for admission into medical colleges, is held once a year.
“Despite the JEE-Main being conducted twice, there has been a decline of nearly 33 per cent in candidates interested to get into engineering colleges since 2014 while there has been a surge of about 140 per cent in those who are keen to get into medical colleges,” pointed out Prerna Samarth, a Mumbai based high education consultant.
Statistics show that the engineering vs medical trend began to change in the last six years. In 2014, the number of students who took entrance tests for admission in engineering colleges was 12.90 lakh while medical aspirants numbered only 6.16 lakh, more than double.
But in subsequent years the gap began to narrow and two years back, the number of students wanting admission in medical colleges surpassed engineering hopefuls. Data for this year shows the change in preference has turned a full circle, with double the number of medical aspirants.
“This is because the engineering sector has probably gone bust with a huge gap in supply and demand and low quality of training imparted in most engineering college,” said Amit Gupta, who trains students to crack the NEET examination in Kota.
“The opportunities for medical aspirants, on the other hand, have immensely increased and while it is still tough to secure an MBBS seat in India, it’s not as difficult as it was 10 years ago. Also, doctors have an added advantage of self-employment later, something that engineers don’t,” he added.
Gupta’s assertion is supported by figures. The number of MBBS seats increased by nearly 48 per cent since 2014-15.
It was 54,348 six years back, which reached 80,312 in 2019-20. It is expected to go up further in the coming session. The data by the All-India Council for Technical Education shows that the total intake in B Tech and B E programmes has gone down from over 17.3 lakh to 13 lakh in the same period.
“The quality of engineering education is a concern. We have taken several initiatives to ensure that a majority of engineers are employable,” said AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe.