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Putting in perspective their best career options

Staff Reporter

FUTURISTIC: Students attending the Pre-Counselling Guidance Programme organised by The Hindu -Educationplus in association with the State Bank of Travancore at the Toc H School auditorium in Kochi on Saturday. - Photo: Vipin Chandran.

KOCHI. Anu Jose, who qualified in the Engineering Entrance Examination, was a bundle of worries when she walked into the Toc H School auditorium for The Hindu-Educationplus Pre-Counselling Guidance Programme on Saturday morning.

Five hours after the event, she felt a lot lighter and clear about her dream course in engineering. "The counselling sessions held here helped me in getting a clear picture of my chances during the Centralised Allotment Process (CAP)," she said.

With characteristic ease backed by years of experience in their respective fields, experts who handled various sessions were successful in dispelling the fears of many like Anu Jose.

The four panelists — S. Rajoo Krishnan, S.K. Ramachandran Nair, M. Madhavan and Ajay Antony — were unanimous in advising students to follow their hearts before selecting a course. Joint Commissioner for Entrance Examinations Rajoo Krishnan recalled a query posed by one of the students who had qualified for both Engineering and Medical Entrance examination to elaborate this view.

"She wanted to know about the date on which we would publish the list of those students who had qualified for the Architecture course. I was surprised when she told me that she would like to join the MBBS course, if the rank list for the Architecture course was delayed further."

Dr. Krishnan also gave some other valuable inputs to the students and parents, but told them that these were only a "personal" observation. To repeated queries on how to select the best professional colleges in the State, the Joint Commissioner said the student community has developed a priority list of the best colleges over the last several years. "Take a look at those colleges where seats usually get filled first. That might be an indicator," he said.

A girl wanted to know whether she could appear for CAP in Kochi even though her place of residence given in the application form was Thiruvananthapuram. Dr. Krishnan smiled and replied in the affirmative. "But do not give much publicity to this answer. This will create a lot of problems for us," he said.

Sreekumar, a parent who came from Ambalapuzha, had a word of thanks for the panelists. "They could really help in removing my fears about the next stage of admission. Like me, there are several other parents who would like to know whether their son or daughter would get a course of their choice during CAP," he said.

When a parent asked the panellists to name the best engineering colleges in Kochi, Prof. Madhavan said it would not be possible to give such a list, but the parents should conduct detailed inquiries through various sources about the quality of an institution.

Mr. Antony said that a combination of best course and quality institute would be crucial in getting a dream job. Dr. Nair came up with some inspiring talk, especially when he encouraged students to "fly very high."

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