A sudden change in schedule of the second round of counselling of the Common Entrance Test (CET) has caught students off guard.
The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), on Saturday evening, decided to close the schedule on Saturday night instead of Sunday afternoon. They cited this as an arrangement to help students choose between engineering seats obtained under the second round of CET and the seats selected in the first round of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka’s (COMEDK) Undergraduate Entrance Test, for which Sunday is the last date to surrender seats. Several students had complained that they had to pick seats three times more expensive under COMEDK as the CET second round allotment was delayed.
But the unexpected advancement of schedule caused some anxiety among students, who were planning to modify their options on Sunday.
“It is a good move as we can know our status under COMEDK and CET. But how can they decide to close the option entry process without giving us prior intimation? This shows that the authorities are not concerned about the students’ plight and are taking decisions based on their whims and fancies,” a student said.
On the other hand, a parent of an engineering seat aspirant welcomed the move, saying it would help them pick between COMEDK and CET seats. “But the short notice is problematic. Each of these exam and counselling authorities are operating in their own way without consulting each other, which is affecting students,” he said.
The KEA officials, however, defended their move by saying that individual messages had been sent to students on Saturday evening and the information had been updated on the KEA website to ensure that students could modify their options in time.
