Mangaluru: With not enough candidates registered for the PG-CET, the test centre for students from undivided Dakshina Kannada has been shifted to Bengaluru. The test is scheduled on June 14.According to officials from the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), only about 400 students from coastal districts registered, whereas it requires a minimum of 1,000 candidates to have an examination centre. Though the district had an exam centre last year and in the year prior to that, this time aspirants have to travel to Bengaluru. A total 30,542 candidates for MBA and 22,262 for MCA will write the PG-CET across the state, which has centres in four districts this time.A spokesperson for KEA said that Dakshina Kannada, which otherwise had a good number of candidates appearing for the PGCET, this time has fewer than 400 applications. The entrance test is for those taking up MBA and MCA courses. “We expect at least 1,000 students to be registered to have examination centres in each district. However, as numbers are less than half of the requirement, we decided to shift centres to Bengaluru. In fact, it was communicated during the registration itself. The Bengaluru centre for candidates from Dakshina Kannada is chosen as it has good connectivity by both rail and road, and is convenient for them to appear,” said the spokesperson.He also added that in other districts too, which had fewer applications, have been shifted to a nearby centre. For example, candidates from Shivamogga will appear for the PG-CET in Davanagere.Sources from KEA also added that there are no takers for seats allocated through PGCET.Students from Dakshina Kannada appearing for the test shared that it is an inconvenience to travel to Bengaluru. “It would have been better if the exam centre was in Mangaluru itself. We are already in between ongoing final-year UG semester examination, and travelling so far to appear for the test will be expensive as well as take up a lot of time,” said an aspirant.Heads of college managements added that with the test centre shifted so far away, it will discourage many candidates from taking the test. “We may likely see a lot of absentees on the exam day,” said a govt first grade college principal.
