From Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI : The data gathered from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Maharashtra in the last couple of years has confirmed that the engineering education is on the wane and medical education is gradually overtaking it.

The data gathered from from Maharashtra's Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) shows that engineering aspirants grew by a modest 2,000, while those wanting to study medicine, climbed by 12,000, a leaning that had shifted after long.

In 2004, there were 79,000 candidates who wanted to study medicine, since then, each year, the number of aspirants have dropped, as more students have been veering towards engineering.

In all, 3.02 lakh candidates will take the MHT-CET on May 12. The overall student pool swelled by about 9 per cent as compared to 2010; but Mumbai did not contribute as much. Thane and Pune made up for Mumbai’s deficit. In 2009, a little over 42,000 students from Mumbai, 27,000 from Pune and 23,000 from Thane appeared for the CET.

This year, Mumbai’s share shrunk to 36,836. Pune and Thane have witnessed a substantial rise in students wanting to get into a professional course. “Every district, except Mumbai has an approximate increase of 10 per cent in the number of aspirants taking the entrance test,” said a senior DMER official.