Andhra Pradesh government to reduce cut-off for common entrance exams like Eamcet, Polycet and Deecet 

VIJAYAWADA: The State Education Department is planning to reduce the minimum qualifying marks in common entrance examinations like Eamcet, Polycet and Deecet to increase the admission rate in the state. This comes after the cut-off marks for of JEE Advanced 2008 were reduced to ensure a fair chance to all.

As per the proposal mooted by the department, the minimum qualifying scores of Eamcet will be reduced by two marks from the existing 45 and for Polycet, the cut-off marks will be reduced by five.

Similarly, in Deecet, the minimum qualifying score of OC and BC candidates are likely to be reduced from 50 to 35 and for SC, ST and PHC candidates, there will not be any qualifying marks. The proposal was mooted with an aim to increase the admission rate in colleges as majority of the seats are lying vacant.

Speaking to ‘Express’, G Panda Das, Commissioner of Technical Education, said, "We have sent a proposal to the State government requesting it to reduce the qualifying marks of a few examinations." Majority of the candidates qualified in the examinations are not turning up for the admissions as they are choosing other options.

"To increase admissions, we want to relax the minimum qualifying scores and give an opportunity to the candidates who have missed the chance by a whisker. We hope that it will increase the admissions rate," he added.

As of now, the counselling process for Polycet and Deecet have almost been completed and Eamcet counselling is in the second phase. In Polycet, though over one lakh candidates qualified in the test, only 48,000 have attended certificate verification process and only 37,000 seats were filled, registering less than 50 per cent admission rate.

In Eamcet, the top rank holders stayed away from the counselling and a large number of candidates who appeared for the counselling also did not report in the colleges for confirming the admissions.