At present, there are about 50 governments polytechnic colleges functioning across the State by providing various diploma courses for several thousand students every year.For the first time, the Department of Technical Education (DOTE) has made arrangements for an online admission process due to COVID-19 pandemic situation.

A senior official from the DOTE told DT Next on Saturday that last year a total of 13,588 first-year students was admitted to various government polytechnic colleges across the State against the total intake capacity of about 14,000 seats.

“However, this year more than 15,000 students have applied for the courses”, he said adding the authorities also discussing the scope of increasing the seat quota depending on the demand in the number of new admissions.

Stating that last year the number of girl students, who had applied for polytechnic courses in government colleges, was about 1,800, the official said “this year it has cross 2,000 mark”. He said similarly the number of boys, who had enrolled this year, was about 13,000, against the last year’s figure of 11,800 candidates. “As several students especially from the rural areas could not enroll online, the government also decided to offer the students spot admissions in the college of their choice”. The official pointed out that this academic year the new admissions has increased in the polytechnic colleges since many parents, who had pay cuts and business loss due to COVID-19 lockdown, have approached government institutions, which provides better education to their students.

“This year free textbooks, free bus pass and free laptops will be distributed to the students immediately once the colleges are reopened”, he added.