AICTE made 50% must in Class 12th for Engineering

Students aspiring to get into an engineering or pharmacy college have to secure aggregate 50% marks in Class-XII Science examination. The new eligibility criterion has been announced by All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in its approval process handbook 2011-12. Now, students have to score aggregate 50% marks in physics, mathematics as compulsory subjects along with chemistry and biology. So far, students with 35% marks can get an access to an engineering seat even he/she would have scored zero mark in Rajasthan Pre Engineering Examination (RPET). “This new eligibility criterion will allow students having minimum calibre to handle the studies and examination pressure in engineering classes,” said R P Yadav, vicechancellor, Rajsthan Technical University (RTU). He feels that this system will improve the quality of engineers. The new system is likely to affect the future prospects of engineering colleges in the state as only 35,000 seats, out of 50,038, were filled this year. Of these, 28,000 seats were filled by students who had scored 50% and above marks. The rest 7,000 had scored less than 50%.