IIT-JEE 2013 will be different. Instead of just one examination, the candidate will have to perform in three, the board examination, as well as one main and an advance test conducted on the same day.
Why should Kapil Sibal and his HRD ministry instead of facilitating IITs to grow and go global keep on interfering with its already well-established system of the entrance examination? Is that so critical an issue for the country? India by now has 16 IITs. The older ones are known and respected world over. The newer ones under the mentorship of old ones, will get assimilated into the brand.
Why has Mr. Sibal stirred the hornet’s nest?
Will the new entrance system improve the quality of incoming candidates?
Will the schools, particularly in rural India, improve the quality of teaching because of the performance of its students of class XII in the board examination is getting weightage?
With the menace of the unscrupulous coaching industry get reduced? Perhaps the answer for all the questions will tilt towards a doubtful yes.
The coaching industry has already prepared itself and communicated well through media. It will improve its margin with hardly any further value addition than it does today. It will be costlier and exclusive for richer section of the population. It will be a further drain even for the middle class.
The media has reported the opposition to the new idea of Sibal. A distinguished alumnus, a former director of an IIT, and many columnists, have expressed their opposition to the new system. The faculty members, alumni associations and the students of IITs and parents have protested and threatened to go to the court.
Mr. Sibal, who couldn’t stand the onslaught on the issue of cartoons in text book recently, perhaps will have to surrender again. As such he has already respectability among the elite groups that matter.
IIT-JEE is an established system, perhaps the toughest one in the world. It has been greatly respected with no scam till date.
Instead of getting into the controversy, the HRD ministry would have spared IITs and let it’s JEE system evolve as it has already done. It should be left to the IIT council consisting of the faculty members, representative of alumni and industry to continue with the task, if necessary.
However, as only small percentages of successful students of IIT-JEE get into IITs, any college including the private ones should be free to admit the students based on the scores in IIT-JEE. If these colleges build an image of its teaching quality and provide world class infrastructure, many students not getting the branches of choice may join them. It will improve capacity in more sought after branches.
The colleges such as BITS, Pilani or BIT, Ranchi and many others that have established a reputation can join the group. It will bring a competition in attracting good students.
Mr.Sibal and his ministry of HRD must focus on facilitating IITs to become the best institute with its quality of produce. Let IITs be more autonomous in real sense of the term. Let it focus on research and development and innovation. Let it have the newer branches of technologies. Let it attract the best teachers from world over?
Will Mr. Sibal create better hostel facilities for students so that an engineering student get a room each as was the case in our days? Can he get a super specialty hospital and medical college serving the community around, integrated in each IIT?
Let Mr. Sibal work for a better industry and institute tie-ups? Let him make it attractive to the best students from the developed and developing nations.
Mr. Sibal! Please let IITs be on its own for JEE.
दृष्टिकोण - Indra's Viewpoint 