Taking a cue from last year’s experience of online admissions for engineering and pharmacy courses, the Gujarat Technological University (GTU) is planning to start counselling classes for school students in rural areas beforehand.

The online admission procedure for the first year degree/diploma engineering and pharmacy courses was introduced in the state in 2008 for the first time.

However, the initiative to go completely paperless did not work out well with the students from rural areas.

“Though the online system was appreciated by many, it was also criticised by others, which is quite natural when a system is revamped. But we have realised the lacunae in the system and have found that there was a lack of technical awareness among students in the villages,” said M N Patel, officiating Vice-Chancellor of GTU.

It is presumed that many students in rural schools have been left out from getting admission and therefore, GTU will have an early start with counselling classes and training of students and teachers especially in rural schools.

“We plan to start the counselling process by December as soon as the students apply for the entrance examination. They will be given brochures on how to apply and how to use the Internet for registration,” said Patel.

In its first year, the counselling was done at help centres set up at engineering colleges in various cities. However, this year the counselling will be done at schools in the rural areas.

“We have been told that the government would set up dedicated computer centres in rural areas for the purpose. In the meantime, we would start training sessions and seminars for students,” said Patel.

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