Seventy-eight students scored “zero” in Eamcet this year. Of them, nine from Engineering and 13 from Medical were declared as qualified and eligible for admissions into engineering and medical courses in the new academic year 2012-13.
AP Governor and Chancellor of Universities E.S.L. Narasimhan had questioned this policy of the state government in giving admissions to those who had scored zero in Eamcet at the JNTU-Hyderabad convocation in May. JNTU-Hyderabad has been conducting Eamcet for the last 14 years.
Openly disapproving the policy, Mr Narasimhan had said, “There should be some minimum qualifying marks. What do you expect of such students, who score zero, to do in classrooms? Do you want to develop an inferiority complex among such students?” he had asked. The state government, however, did not review its policy of not prescribing minimum marks for students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
10+2 marks to save eamcet zero-scorers
Till 2008, students who scored zero in the Eamcet medical exam were allowed to take admissions in medical courses. However, following an uproar over the declining standards in medical education, the MCI had tightened the norms from 2009, making it mandatory for students to secure 50 per cent marks both in Eamcet and in the 10+2 exams (Science subjects) to be eligible for MBBS admission. But, zero-scorers in Eam-cet engineering stream were allowed admissions in engineering courses till 2010, if they passed 10+2 exams.
The AICTE, too, had tightened its norms from 2011, by prescribing a cut-off per cent of 50 in the 10+2 exams for OCs and 45 per cent for reserved quota students. However, it was later reduced by 5 per cent.
Due to the revised norms, those who scored zero in Eamcet were not allowed to claim admissions in MBBS courses. But they could opt for other allied courses like Agriculture, Veterinary, Horticulture etc.
However, Eamcet zero-scorers can claim admissions in engineering courses, provided they fulfil the minimum cut-off marks in 10+2 exams (45 per cent for OCs, 40 per cent for others). Given the over 3.21 lakh engineering seats in state, they are bound to get seats in engineering courses. Moreover, they can pursue these courses for free, since the government reimburses the entire fee amount to colleges as part of its Fee Reimbursement Scheme.