Chennai: The Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE) has relaxed the rule to enrol all Class XII students, including commerce and arts stream students, in the second year of diploma courses in polytechnic colleges.Previously, only students who studied in the maths group and vocational group could directly enrol in the second year through lateral entry admissions.“All principals are being allowed to admit Class XII students, including commerce students who cleared the exams, directly in the second year,” a circular from DOTE to all the principals of polytechnic colleges said. Of the 7,92,494 students who appeared for the Class XII exams, 7,53,142 students cleared the Class XII state board exams. Tamil Nadu has 492 polytechnic colleges, including 55 govt polytechnic colleges, with an intake of 1,43,499 seats.However, admission to polytechnic colleges has been declining in the past few years. Last year, the polytechnic colleges enrolled 58,426 students, which is only around 40%. As part of the efforts to improve admissions, the state govt has now allowed students from all streams in Class XII to join polytechnic colleges.“The govt is revamping the curriculum for diploma courses to impart industry-relevant skills to students. So, the maths subject in the second year has been replaced with skill-oriented courses. It won’t be a problem for students from other streams to study the diploma courses,” a principal from a polytechnic college said. The principal also mentioned that students from other streams will not have much difficulty at the diploma level as all of them studied maths till Class X.Academicians have proposed bridge courses for students coming without a maths background. “Students cannot study engineering without a maths background. This bridge course will help them master fundamental engineering concepts and get trained in industry-relevant skills,” Anna University former vice-chancellor R Velraj said.This year, the state govt is taking various efforts, including a campaign to enrol dropouts in Class X and XI, to increase admissions in polytechnic colleges.