IIT-K revolts, declares own exam
IIT Kanpur, Delhi and Bombay faculty members warn that the new JEE exam pattern is based on flawed assumptions. Consequently, IIT Kanpur has announced that it will conduct its own exam next year. The senate of IIT Delhi will soon meet and discuss on the issue.
Points of contradiction, according to IITs
| MHRD’s claims of ‘one-nation-one exam’ | What IITs fear |
| One exam will take the stress of multiple exams off the students | Since performance in one exam will be the deciding factor, students’ stress will increase multi-fold |
| Culture of private coaching classes will be curbed | With Class XII marks getting sizeable weightage, coaching industry will flourish even more |
| Soci-economic divide or urban-rural difference can be underplayed | There seems to be no provisions to uphold this claim |
| Class XII scores of students from different education boards in India can be normalised using a statistical formula | Proposed normalisation formula assumes that merit distribution across the boards is same. Academic preparedness across boards varies, hence this assumption is flawed. Secondly, it assumes that aggregate scores increase from less meritorious to the more meritorious students. But different boards have different methods of grading examination papers, which may mean that this assumption is flawed too. |
| Students will not neglect their school studies and will balance it out with engineering exam preparation. | The main exam of the JEE is said to be the equivalent of AIEEE while the advanced exam will be equivalent of the much tougher IIT JEE. This year, about 12 lakh students sat for AIEEE, whereas only 5 lakh appeared for IIT JEE. Now, the other 7 lakh students who would not be taking IIT JEE will also be forced to sit for it, increasing their burden enormously. |
IIT Kanpur rebels; IIT Bombay and Delhi may follow suite
Opposing the introduction of the new JEE, IIT-Kanpur has chosen to go its own way and conduct its own entrance exam next year. Clinging to the rights of IIT senates to decide their own admission process, IIT-K has announced that it will hold a separate exam and its details will soon be announced.
While initially, IIT Bombay and Delhi decided to go through the CET route proposed by the IIT Council (Read more), it seems they may now decide to follow IIT Kanpur.
IIT Kharagpur and Guwahati have criticized IIT Kanpur’s extreme step. The new JEE also has the backing of IIT Roorkee and IIT Madras. But the alumni of IIT Delhi have pushed it to follow the lead of IIT Kanpur and accept its invitation to take part in its admission process. The senate of IIT Delhi will soon meet and discuss on the issue. More about IIT Delhi’s take
What do students want?
IIT Kharagpur has claimed that IITs have emerged as ‘elite institutions because they were allowed to function independently and set standards in carrying out academic responsibilities’. The new test has been made out to be a retrograde step by IITs.
On the other hand, the HRD Ministry claims that it has worked hard to bring order to a complicated academic world of multiple entrance exams. The weightage to scholastic work of students of Class XII examination will ensure that students focus more on studies at school rather than their engineering exams.
Since the IITs will have hold over the advanced test paper, it can easily monitor the intake of quality students.
Meanwhile, students and their parents are at their wits’ ends about the mayhem and wish the clouds of uncertainty over the new JEE to be held in 2013 to clear soon. Read more
