New Delhi: 8,876 Engineering colleges (private and government colleges), 39 lakh students enrolled in them, close to 17 lakh students appeared for the JEE in 2025 (session 1 has been wrapped up), of which 2.5 lakh candidates will proceed to round two, called the JEE Advanced; of this number, approximately 18,000 students will make it to the IITs, another 8,600 in IIITs and close to 25,000 in NITs.

The rest may appear for state engineering exams such as MCET (Maharashtra Common Entrance Test), KCET (Karnataka Common Entrance Test), some who can afford hefty fees will also appear for the VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) interview round. In essence, Engineering is still a dominant field in India, a one-stop destination for students in the country. This has been a trend since the 20th century which saw India’s rapid need for industrialisation. The need for this reinforced by a subsequent global reputation as an emerging technological powerhouse, made “engineering” a sought after discipline.

Families viewed the field not just as a lucrative career option, but also something that would secure a future for their wards. A graduate degree in Engineering held the promise of job opportunities, good pay packages, and prestigious social status. During this phase, there was a passing joke doing the rounds — ‘In India people do engineering first and then think what to do.’

So, the news of a 18-year-old girl who died by suicide today, because she thought she had “failed her parents” by not securing the cut-off percentile in JEE Mains Session 1, hit home very hard. Hailing from Mishraulia........

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