COVID-19 Effect: NITs Seek Extension for Implementation of EWS Quota
The NITs cited the same reason with regard to EWS quota implementation which the IITs had cited a few weeks back, i.e the inability to maintain minimum social distancing due to the nationwide lockdown which has hampered their infrastructural growth.
The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have sought permission from the Government to introduce the EWS quota seats from 2021 onwards citing the coronavirus crisis. All the Centrally Funded Educational Institutions were ordered to add 10% more seats which will be specifically reserved for the candidates belonging to the EWS category without hampering the existing number of seats reserved for other reserved categories. The NITs have pleaded to the Government to push the deadline of implementing the scheme to 2021.
Earlier, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) had also approached the Government with a similar kind of a plea and were the first Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs) to request the Government to push the deadline of adding 10% additional seats for the EWS category candidates to 2021 citing the coronavirus crisis.
Rajeev Tripathi, the director of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Allahabad, who also heads this year’s Central Seat Allocation Board, wrote to the HRD Ministry after gathering suggestions from all the NITs. The Board will conduct admissions into all the 31 NITs this year.
Also Read: IITs seek deadline extension to introduce EWS quota seats
Due to the coronavirus crisis, the Central Government of India resorted to a stringent nationwide lockdown method to stop the contamination from spreading which has resulted in a delay in the construction of new hostels and renovation of classrooms. In such a scenario, adding 10% more students would result in the least social distancing amongst the students in the hostels, classrooms and recreational facilities.
Earlier a decision was taken to increase the intake capacity of all the centrally funded educational institutions by 25% over a period of two years for accommodating the additional influx of EWS quota students without tinkering with the seats already reserved for other reserved category candidates.
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Over the last two years, it has been known that the NITs have successfully accommodated 7,256 seats to accommodate the EWS quotes students. Out of all the 31 NITs, a few of them introduced the quota seats in their undergraduate programmes last year. Those institutions which were supposed to introduce the EWS quota seats from this year onwards have requested for an extension of the deadline.