Bihar.... The reality... Too many entrance tests to get into professional courses...

Ranchi.. Its a big city... Our medical student's father took us for a city ride.. Visited Rock garden and Rajendra institute of medical sciences.. Its a government college with a hospital.. Hospital is huge.. Though its a government hospital its wel maintained. They have a AC nephrology and Orthopaedics unit. Imagine a government hospital for common people with AC rooms.. But roads are narrow.. We had typical Bihari lunch in his place and it was delicious. Their hospitality was very good...

We left Ranchi for Patna and reached at 8 PM.. I had heard lots of stories about Bihar and its image and now time had arrived to ascertain the facts...

Everyone here admits outrightly that Bihar is progressing well under Nitesh Rule.. 15 years of Lalu Rule had put the entire state in shambles and locals say it will take atleast 10 years to clean up this mess and Nitish Kumar has begun the task in right earnest. We could see lot of flyovers under construction and road work. Nobody knew what development was during Lalus rule but now they realise that Lalu took them for a ride. But will this translate into votes for Nitish who is focussing his campaign on the development agenda. Bihar politics is highly polarised on the basis of caste and i get a feeling this will play a majo role than the development. If Nitish Kumar happens to sweep the Loksabha elections then it would be the real victory for Indian Democracy and for the people of the state... Verdict will be out on the counting day..

At the educaiton fair: We had vrey good number of enquiries for many courses from our trust. There are very few medical and engineering colleges in Bihar and Jharkand and hence lot of students move out of their state to pursue professional courses. Invariable students take a break for an year after +2 (II PUC) to prepare for entrance exams. We found many students who had dropped two years to prepare for entrance exams. Is very strange. In Karnataka, everyone prepares simultaneously for II PU and entrance exam and get into professional courses immediately. But in Bihar around 80 % drop a year to prepare for entrance exams.

Regarding entrance exams: My god, there are too many entrance exams.. AIEEE, State entrance, Maharashtra entrance, Bengal entrance, Jharkand entrance, COMEDK entrance, deemed universities like Manipal entrance, VIT entrance, SRM entrance, Kalinga and the list is endless.. Students find it difficult to to identify which entrance to take. Too many considerations. Getting a train ticket to Bangalore to write COMEDK is also a consideration. Centre has to do something for this. There is a proposal to conduct a common entrance for all deemed universities next year and effort should be put in to ensure this happens. So many applications to fill in, so many centres. Its a huge burden for students, parents and also universities.

A single entrance exam will go a long way in resolving this problem.