More than 25,000 seats in the State’s 30 Government and 100 private diploma and polytechnic institutes are likely to fall vacant in the current academic year.
According to informed sources, a total of 45,325 students have been selected for admission in these institutes in the first phase. These students will take admission in the allotted institutes from July 1 to July 5.
However, out of nearly 47,000 students who have secured ranks in the just-concluded Diploma Entrance Test (DET), only 19,556 have gone for choice locking. Of these students, 18,535 students have been allotted seats. As a result, over 28,000 seats are vacant.
There are a total of 37,320 seats in the private institutes and 8,005 seats in Government institutes this year. Meanwhile, the Odisha Private Engineering Schools’ Association (OPESA) has sought permission from the Odisha High Court to conduct a second DET on July 20.
As the admission process in the Plus Two streams will have finished by this time, there is a possibility that the students who have failed to take admission in the Plus Two streams might opt for the DET.
OPESA secretary Saroj Kumar Sahu has alleged that a large number of seats in the private institutes have fallen vacant as the officials at the nodal centres have forced the students to take admission in Government institutes.
“Unless there is a change in the counselling process, the number of vacant seats in the private institutes will go up every year,” he said.