ISEET losing vote of confidence; final decision on May 28

By Ruchi Shrimali

After much speculation, a final decision on the proposed Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET) is expected on May 28, 2012 - the deadline set by the Ministry of HRD. ISEET is proposed as a common national-level engineering entrance exam to replace IIT JEE, AIEEE, and state-level CETs. IIT faculties have been opposing the common engineering entrance exam scheduled to be introduced next year as a replacement of IIT-JEE. They also do not agree with the proposal of 40% weightage to be given to Std XII board marks in drawing up the merit lists. They want IIT JEE to stay.

MHRD opines that not taking board exam scores into account has increased undue reliance on coaching institutes as against learning in school. These coaching institutes teach rote learning, short-cuts and tricks to students to score well in a particular exam, rather than helping them to understand the entire syllabus prescribed in their boards. ISEET will replace multiple tests, reducing the financial burden as well as stress level of students. It also asserts that there is no question of IIT standards being diluted as those who score less than 95% in their board exams have very few chances of making it to the merit ranking list. Read more

IIT faculties feel that the proposed exam format has many loopholes that need to be plugged before the exam is introduced. They also feel that MHRD is trying to thrust a new system on them in a hurry to introduce changes.

Some of the main objections against ISEET are:

• Single-door entry will only shoot up stress levels of students as they will not have another chance to prove themselves.
• 40% weightage to board examinations will not work out because different boards across India follow different patterns and there is no uniformity or standards. Moreover, there are exam malpractices to be considered. Board examination scores can be a criterion for the exam but it will be unfair to use them at the merit-list level.
• Normalisation of board marks is impossible, as confirmed by the report of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. It will only dilute the academic standards. See details
• Government plans to base ISEET on SAT exams in the US. However, SAT is only the first step in screening students. Institutes can define their own admission criteria after that.
• 60% weightage to the aptitude test will only mean that students will have to join coaching institutes for special training, as its curriculum is entirely different from school curriculum.
• Some academic experts also feel that the government is trying to push the proposal in a hurry and not giving stakeholders enough time to work on its challenges.

If you had a say, would you vote for ISEET? Share your opinions here.