JEE Main 2015: Dip in registrations – Are students losing interest in Engineering?

A few days back, it was reported that – for the first time in the last few years - the number of registrations for JEE Main 2015 dipped down by 50000 to around 13.03 lakh from 13.65 lakh last year.

Reportedly, out of the total number of candidates who applied for the exam, approximately 15% i.e. 1.86 lakh students opted for the online mode. The number of registrations for the online exam has shot up this year as compared to last year's 1.71 lakh. In the year 2012 and 2013, 12.20 and 12.82 lakh students registered for JEE Main, respectively.

If facts are to be believed, this national level exam has always recorded a high number of registrations. The two tier system was introduced in the year 2013. Before that, JEE Main was AIEEE and Advanced was IIT JEE.

The dip is not significant for JEE (Main), this year, but the reason still remains uncertain.  Let’s take a look at this table that depicts the number of registrations for JEE Main in the last five years:

Predicting the exact reason for this dip now would be very early but according to experts, it just might be an indicator of students losing interest in engineering.

Professor G D Yadav, vice-chancellor of Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Matunga was quoted saying, "The interest in engineering education is waning because of the poor quality of institutes. The quality of faculty suffers in most institutes. As a result, the placements in these colleges are not good. There are many unemployed engineers in the country, who eventually opt for a management programme in order to get placed." He added that it has become difficult to lure students to engineering. The government needs to take some measures immediately to change this trend among aspirants”.

Expressing his views on the scenario, Professor D B Phatak , IIT-Bombay said, “The number of students seeking admission to engineering colleges has remained constant for some years now. Around 12 lakh students take admissions to engineering colleges across the country for the last few years through various entrance exams. The number of students taking admissions to engineering courses has reached a saturation level. The numbers of colleges, however, have not remained static”.

While some students believe that this situation would decrease the competition for engineering aspirants, the others think that the decrease in number of registrations will not affect anyone. One such student, Pramod, shared, “Nothing really would happen by having 50000 less candidates. The competition is actually to be amongst the top 1.5 lakh which is also based on class 12 Board marks. So, I think it wouldn’t make any difference at all”.

On one hand, there are reasons like shortage of faculty and bad placements that indicate a waning interest of students towards engineering education of the country, while, on other hand, the ever increasing engineering seats - in large numbers – being vacant at different cities and states speaks volumes about the whole situation.

Last year, in Maharashtra alone, more than 60,000 engineering seats remained vacant, while, 3.5 lakh engineering seats went vacant in South India.

While, the declining registration numbers might point towards aspirants losing interest in engineering, we should also realize that poor placements and faculty shortage could also be some of the reasons that add up to the whole scenario and so many seats going vacant in engineering colleges across the country every year.

We sincerely feel that it’s high time for the government to take steps to improve the overall situation and state of engineering education in the country. Instead of opening new IITs(Indian Institute of Technology),  it should concentrate more on developing the already existing IITs and other engineering institutes across the country.

What do you feel could be the other reasons for the decline? And what other ways should the government adopt to improve the overall condition of engineering education in India? Share your views in the comments section below!