VIJAYAWADA: A common entrance exam for all engineering colleges in the country, mooted by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) at the council meeting held in Delhi on Sunday, received mixed reactions in Andhra Pradesh. AICTE said this common entrance test would bring relief to students, who are now writing five to six entrance tests. It feels NEET-like test will solve all the problems in one go. However, educationist and former MLC KS Lakshman Rao said the proposal to introduce the entrance test from next year must be looked into. There are issues pertaining to state engineering colleges that need to be worked out and the common test must not be implemented hastily. "Local and non-local issues such as section 371-D, state reservations in the country-wide allotment of seats, etc need to be strictly implemented. If care is taken to address these issues, then the idea can be accepted," Lakshman Rao added.On the other hand, Student Federation of India opposed the idea outrightly. SFI state secretary Noor Mohammed said centralisation of engineering tests will call for changes in the teaching syllabus at the state-level, which will cause loss of local knowledge in the long run. He further said students from rural and underprivileged backgrounds may have to compete with other students in the new common entrance test.Chairman of Chiranjeevi Reddy Institute of Engineering and Technology, Anantapur, Charles Chiranjeevi Reddy welcomed the move. Saying that there might be a few glitches, Reddy explained that such changes would help maintain standards. "We (university-affiliated engineering colleges) do not have a controlling body, like the MCI for medical colleges. This is resulting in a drop in the standard of engineering education. Also, deemed universities with no pathetic education standards are mushrooming in the state. So, a common entrance test will force all engineering colleges to maintain a certain standard," Reddy said.The ones who are supposed to be most affected by these changes seem relatively calm. Kishore Ravikanth , a MPC 1st year student from Narayana Junior College in Vijayawada, said, " It is both helpful and risky at the same time. In the present system, even if I perform poorly in one entrance test, I can try my luck in another one in the very same year. With this common test, I might have to wait another year, if I mess up one exam. I am not sure if this will be implemented by next year.""Now I am preparing for Eamcet. I only wish that the government makes a clear announcement well in advance so that we can give our best shot," Kishore said.Meanwhile, in the AICTE meeting, chairman of the council Anil Sahasrabuddhe had said that the board cannot implement uniform fee structure in all engineering colleges in the country.

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