Disappointment for Coimbatore students
For most engineering aspirants who had come from Coimbatore and nearby districts, to obtain an application form for admission into any affiliated college of the Anna University, Coimbatore, Wednesday turned out to be a day of disappointment.The serpentine queue, which started at the counter that issued applications at the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, wound its way into its grounds. An easy 3,500 people waited their turn at the counter to obtain a form.The issue of applications began only at 10.45 a.m. By 1 p.m. 2,000 applications had been exhausted and the remaining 1,500-odd students had to return empty handed.Sources said that the university had received only 2,000 applications from Chennai, and the forms had reached them only at 10 a.m.It was disheartening to see students, who had waited along with their parents since morning, return without obtaining a form for no fault of theirs. This was the case at most of the other centres. Sources said that only 75,000 forms were printed just like last year.
With one lakh seats available, and with the abolition of the Common Entrance Test, at least 1.25 lakh forms should have been printed at one go and distributed to the district centres, they asserted.R. Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Coimbatore, said: "We have requested for more forms. Since they were not going to reach us on Thursday, we have asked people not to come on that day. We expect to get more from Chennai on Friday.Students have time till June 5. They can come leisurely to collect their forms. Because of overcrowding there is a chance of them having to return without one."
Considering that, the candidates ask why more application forms were not printed? Why they were not sent in bulk? Why this piecemeal approach?It was only human for students and their parents to try and get an application form at the earliest. How justified was the university in making them return empty-handed after a long wait, the parents wonder. A few would have to travel long distances again for the application form.
If this was the case with Anna University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University's was still worse. It had announced the issue of applications from May 16. But it was not issued much to the disappointment of the students. They were told that the forms would be available only on May 21.There was no intimation as to the change in date. Students were seen making futile trips on Wednesday and Thursday. There was no clear reason from the side of the university. Was it some administrative snag or was there a delay in printing of forms?, the disappointed lot wonders.Whatever might be the reason, in both the above cases, students were made the scapegoats. Sources wonder why universities cannot take the easy way out and make the students download the application from the net?.
