Cancellation of OJEE ’15 illegal: OTCA

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Nov 27: Odisha Technical College Association (OTCA) has called for an all Odisha technical college Strike on December 1 in order to protest against the decision taken by the State government for cancellation of OJEE 2015, as it is “illegal” not to conduct OJEE according to Method prescribed for admission in the Orissa Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission & Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007.The State Government on November 21 rejected the recommendation of Policy Planning Body (PPB) to conduct Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) to 85% quota to overcome the problem of huge vacancy of seats in private engineering colleges, even after a special OJEE was conducted and decided to stick to CBSE’s JEE Main-2015 for admission to B.Tech courses.Due to conducting of only the JEE Main (without OJEE), huge vacancies had been created last year and if this is repeated this year it will add to the woes, the OTCA said in a statement issued to the media on Thursday.Stating that the all India JEE Main is mainly for admission into IITs, OTCA said that very few students from Odisha are taking admission in IITs.“Within the last 20 years the highest number of students selected in IITs from Odisha was 14 that too in only one year.Thousands of students depend on OJEE for pursuing their Technical Education,” the Association said.The cost of examination and counseling of JEE Main is much higher in comparison with OJEE.It is illogical for a student wanting to study in Odisha to give the JEE main or a national level test by paying higher fee, OTCA said.It further said there is no regional centre of JEE Main in Odisha for which students are facing too many difficulties in enquiring about various queries during the process of admission.“Further the eligibility criteria for JEE Main is itself limiting the scope of application.Students who have passed the 12th Boards in the last 2 years and those going to appear in the present year can only apply.When there is no age limit for pursuing engineering, most of the students are debarred from appearing the test as per the eligibility criteria of JEE Main.As a result, large numbers of seats remain vacant in colleges.Even 5% TFW seats in many colleges are not filling up by this process.” Observing that all private universities are doing their respective tests for study in their respective universities by paying more money with less quality (No 3rd party for validation), OTCA said that injustice is being done to thousands of poor students of Odisha and it is inequality in policy.“Private Universities are taking students from their own tests as well as from the rank holders of All India JEE Main.So their scope of choosing student expands.The objective of single test for convenience is not true.There are multiple tests still going on in Odisha by Private Universities as well as by Government.This action is encouraging the students of Odisha to study outside.This is a conspiracy against the poor students of Odisha who want to study in their motherland with less money in an affiliated college with a Government recognized college and university.” “The criteria for joining IIT are quality.We are very sorry to state that this is an entrance test only for preparing ranking, as per Supreme Court to be prepared in a transparent and un-exploitative manner, for counseling.This is not an eligibility test.Hence, students should not be debarred from pursuing Engineering.“We demand justice and equal playing field vis-à-vis private universities for the poor students of Odisha,” said Biswajit Mohanty, president of OTCA.“Government’s decision to cancel OJEE is illegal and has made The Orissa Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission & Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007 redundant.85% of Odisha engineering’s aspirants are now debarred from the opportunity at less expense in a Government university,” said Monaj Samatray, secretary of OTCA.