IIT Backtracks on its Promise of Posting JEE Answers within 48 hours!

Just days before IIT JEE 2011, which is scheduled to be held on April 10, IIT Kanpur conducting the exam announced that it will not be posting the correct answers on the exam website within 48 to 72 hours of the exam as had been promised earlier. Instead, it will upload the correct IIT JEE answers on the official JEE website only on May 15 - 35 days after the exam!

IIT aspirants are feeling betrayed. About 4.85 lakh students have registered for IIT JEE this year. On March 26, the Director of IIT Kanpur Mr. S. G. Dhande had announced that the correct answers will be uploaded on the website within two to three days of the exam. This would have allowed applicants to verify their answers and have a fair idea of how they had fared in the exam.

But now, they will have to wait 35 days to compare their answers with the model solutions provided by the exam organizers. IIT JEE results are due to be announced on May 25, 2011. Director of IIT Kanpur or any of the other IITs were not available to comment on why IIT backtracked on its earlier promise.

It is a well-known fact that answers to the question papers are prepared while they are still being set. Hence, if IIT wishes, it can get these model solutions verified by the experts and publish them on the day of the test itself. There is no reason why it would take IIT 35 days to release the answers.

This suspicious conduct of the IIT JEE is now under scrutiny of the Supreme Court. Mr. Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer by profession, has filed public interest litigation (PIL) on behalf of a professor from IIT Kharagpur called Mr. Rajiv Kumar who has alleged that there are irregularities in the conduct of the prestigious engineering entrance exam which determines the careers of lakhs of students.

The PIL demands that not only the IITs should publish he correct answers online immediately after the test but it should make sure that the scanned answer sheets of candidates are uploaded on the IIT-JEE website immediately after the results are declared. IIT organizers have already said that they will put up scanned answer sheets of the candidates, accessible through passwords given to individual candidates, after declaring results on May 25, 2011.

Other reforms suggested by the PIL include that candidates should be told to use pens, instead of pencils, on their Optical Response Sheets (ORS). They should also be provided with carbon copies of their answer scripts after they complete the examination, so that they may clarify any doubts and put up questions on the evaluation process if necessary with evidence in their hands.

Keep visiting this page over the next few weeks to know the latest developments on IIT reforms and comment on promises vs actual conduct of IIT JEE.

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)

Date: 7th April, 2011