The recent decision of the Andhra Pradesh government, India, to allow non-resident Indian (NRI) students to appear for Eamcet, an entrance examination required for admission to various engineering and medical colleges in the state, provides relief for many expatriate parents from the south Indian state as the path to finding professional courses for their children becomes easier. “Up to now NRI students were not allowed to appear for Eamcet because its eligibility norms stipulated that students should complete their higher secondary education in India, and that they could only seek admission under the management quota, which means donating huge sums of money,” said Gazanfar Ali Zaki, general secretary of Indian Youth Welfare Education, who is from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. “With this new move, our children will be able to compete with the rest and claim seats in all professional courses. It is especially good news for female students, whose parents until now worried about sending their daughters to India four years before Eamcet so that they could pursue higher education there,” he said. Eamcet, an abbreviation of Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test, is conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, every year in May on behalf of Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE). University admissions are based on the marks secured in this exam and intermediate (class 12). Shakeel Ahmed, education consul at the Indian consulate in Jeddah, described the move as a “good thing”, saying that parents welcome the decision. A mother from Hyderabad, whose daughter is studying in class 8 in Jeddah, said: “I have been very concerned about my daughter's higher education for the past three years because I don't want to send her to India as the hostel facilities for girls in Hyderabad are worrying. Now, my daughter can stay with us for four more years.” According to an Indian newspaper, the higher education minister of Andhra Pradesh, D. Srinivas, said the state government decided to include in Eamcet a weight of 25 percent of the marks scored in the intermediate exams “in order to give a boost to intermediate education that had become irrelevant and meaningless”. “The government's decision to add a percentage of intermediate marks to Eamcet results is a positive measure for NRI students as well as those resident in India. This has been done in the neighboring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and will strengthen the fundamentals of students,” Shahbaz Khan, an IT professor in the popular Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad, said in an email interview to Saudi Gazette. “Many coaching institutes train students in both intermediate and Eamcet education. However, because they mainly focus on Eamcet, they will now have to change their approach so that they do not suffer under the government's new ruling,” said Khan, adding that the fee structure of these institutes is Rs 25-28,000 per year, and around Rs.50,000 for two years. Zaki said that many associations and groups in the Indian expat community in Jeddah have been working for the cause of education. “I request these associations to organize Eamcet coaching classes so that children can prepare for the entrance exam alongside their class 11 and 12 studies,” he said.
