For admissions to undergraduate courses in Architecture, Physics, Chemistry and Math will not be mandatory subjects, as per the approval process handbook for 2022-23 which was released by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Tuesday, March 29. Apart from this, Fashion Technology and Packaging Technology will also not require PCM subjects in Class XII. 

It was only last year that AICTE, the technical regulator, had announced that those students who have not pursued Physics, Chemistry or Math, that is, the PCM subjects, in their Class XII will be able to seek admissions to Engineering and Technology programmes. This had caused a huge uproar, as stated in a report by PTI. 

"We had constituted an expert committee to make recommendations on admissions for which courses PCM can be made optional. On basis of the panel's recommendations, three courses have been chosen," a senior AICTE official said, as quoted in a report by PTI.

Apart from PCM, the subjects which are eligible for admission in the three courses include Computer Science, Electronics, Information Technology, Biology, Informatics Practices, Biotechnology, Technical Vocational Subject, Agriculture, Engineering Graphics, Business Studies and Entrepreneurship.