IIT-K to follow IIT JEE; Sibal plans his move

IIT Kanpur has formed a nine-member admission committee to hold its exam next year. The committee has decided to stick to the original IIT JEE format and eligibility requirements for next year. IIT Kanpur has around 850 seats for undergraduate engineering programmes. It has also been decided that the IIT-K director will request directors of other IITs to join their exam. Read more

Academic experts allege that the HRD minister, Kapil Sibal, is trying to replicate the US SAT, without understanding it in its entirety. One single entrance exam for all engineering and science courses in India is based on faulty reasoning. IIT faculty, students and their parents, alumni and industry – all are being ignored in the process. 

Objections about the new JEE

• HRD Ministry has reiterated that it aims to reduce the burden of students and remove multiplicity of entrance exams. However, the new JEE format gives 50 per cent weightage to Class XII board examinations and have two-step exam format, which means that students will still have to go through more than one single exam. Besides, there would be an advanced test for admission to IITs. Soon, other science institutes will want to introduce their own advance tests. For example, a student aspiring to join medicine may need to appear for an advance test for medical courses and elite medical institutes. Since many students are still not aware about their preferred career choices when they pass class XII, they may want to appear for multiple entrance exams, which will mean that multiplicity of exams will remain a reality.
• Given the status of several state education boards that do not offer quality education, trying to drag class XII board scores into the process will mean that academic excellence of IITs will be compromised. SAT as well as other hallowed competitive exams in India, like IAS, CAT, and medical entrance exams, use Class XII board exams just as a qualifier. So, IITs should also be allowed to do that.
• It’s feared that the new JEE will lead to degradation of the IIT brand, the only government-owned institution in India that has garnered global recognition. IITians hold positions of power in almost all the BSE 100 companies. Many of its distinguished alumni are heading giant transnational corporations too. IIT JEE might be ruthless but it has helped IITs to maintain that excellence. Diluting it is not a justified option. See details

IIT JEE and class XII board exams are also not perfect

• Even though, new JEE has not won over many stakeholders, IIT JEE has been criticized too. Even IIT faculty has not been happy with the quality of students that get through the present admission system. Coaching institutes that teach tips and tricks to students to crack IIT JEE, instead of actually helping them understand their coursework have become a big hurdle in screening bright students with right aptitude for engineering.
• Class XII board exams, too, test rote learning and memory power of students rather than their knowledge and understanding of the subject. Illogical grading systems, manipulation, political interference and other exam malpractices pose a big challenge too. 

Yet, the new JEE is not the answer to the challenges posed by failures of IIT JEE and Class XII boards. Representatives of the All India IIT Faculty Federation will meet the Prime Minister tomorrow to present its view points. 

Kapil Sibal in no mood to back out

Meanwhile, Kapi Sibal is busy reaching out to states and 130 deemed-to-be-universties in India to adopt the new exam. He will meet the representatives of deemed universities on June 25 for the purpose.

Many of the deemed universities have engineering colleges and till now, they have been conducting their own exams or using state-level CETs, AIEEE scores, or marks of Class XII board exams for admission to their programmes. 

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, and Maharashtra have already declared that they will adopt the new CET. Bihar and West Bengal are considering it too. All the states have to inform the HRD Ministry about whether and why they will adopt the new common entrance test by June 30. Know more

Other interesting reads:

- Timeline JEE: ball by ball on CET

- Will IIT Council overpower Senate's decision?