AICTE announces academic schedule

The AICTE on Thursday announced the proposed schedule for the academic year 2021-22 for all technical institutions across India. It said that classes for the first-year students across technical institutes will commence by September 15.

The first round of counselling for admission into technical programmes (like engineering) will have to be completed by August 31, it said in a circular. The second round of counselling for the allotment of seats should be completed by September 9.

The AICTE said for standalone postgraduate institutions offering management courses, the classes will begin from July 1. The last date for granting admissions into open and distance learning courses and fully online programmes in technical education will be June 30.

While the AICTE said that this academic calendar will be subject to further changes based on health ministry guidelines, owing to the Covid-19 situation in the country, teachers' bodies in the state have raised concerns on the schedule.

The Telangana Technical & Professional Institutes Employees Association (TPIEA-TS) said that the schedule released by AICTE is not practically implementable. "It seems like the AICTE had to only complete their duty by announcing the schedule, without considering the ground reality of Covid-19. At a time when several children are waiting to even complete their 202021 academic year syllabus and exams are still pending, what is the point of this schedule?" said Dr V. Balakrishna Reddy, president, TPIEA-TS.