Srinagar, Apr 25: At a time when thousands of qualified professionals are sitting unemployed in Kashmir, the All India Engineering Entrance Examinations conducted on Sunday saw over 100 per cent increase in the number of applicants over last year.
Around 4904 students from Kashmir appeared at the national level entrance examination which was held at five centres here. Last year only 2400 students had appeared in the test which means an increase of 2504 applicants this year.
The AIEEE examination were adopted after only state owned Regional Engineering College Hazratbal, was granted the status of National Institute of Technology. About 558 students were provided admission in NIT Srinagar last year with 50 per cent reservation for applicants from state.
However, the number of seats increased 18 per cent every year and this time around 700 students are likely to get the admission.
As per officials of Central Board of Secondary Education—the body that conducts the AIEEE examination—the number of students appearing in the entrance test has been constantly rising.
 “Definitely the number of applicants in AIEEE examination from Kashmir is constantly rising,” coordinator for CBSE in Kashmir, K K Sharma, told Greater Kashmir.
Sharma credits the career opportunities offered by AIEEE with the increased attraction among students towards the examination.
“It (AIEEE) provides students an option of getting into engineering colleges across the country. Plus the list of colleges which provide admission to students based on to their score in AIEEE is also increasing so more and more students are opting for AIEEE now,” he said.
Asked about the engineering streams preferred by students here, he said: “They opt for leather technology, architecture and other engineering streams which aren’t necessarily offered by NIT Srinagar. Many students go to engineering colleges outside state for studies.”
For many students, however, engineering is a better option for career making.  
 “After doing engineering, one can get good job anywhere in the world. And AIEEE provides us a window of opportunity for admission in our preferred streams in various colleges across India,” said a student, Rayees Ahmad, who was trying his luck in AIEEE for the second time.
For several others AIEEE is the only good option available to them.
“There aren’t many career options in Kashmir. Keeping that in view, AIEEE is just one good opportunity for us. That is why I am here today,” said Bilal Ahmad, one among nearly 1000 candidates who appeared in AIEEE in NIT Srinagar centre.
Even parents were excited about their children’s career in engineering.
“I think it is a good opportunity for my daughter to make her career if she qualifies the examination,” said Ghulam Rasool, father of the candidate outside the exam hall.
“There are good job opportunities for engineers anywhere I the world. My elder son has done engineering and he is working in New Delhi this time. So my second son also opted for it,” said Iqbal Ahmad Lone a parent.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST