From: Chandra Jain
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:28:19 +0530
Subject: A comprehensive Proposal for UG Admission Procedure for Technical Colleges & IITs.
Here is a proposal for admission to undergraduate engineering courses in India :
1. PRELIMINARY/QUALIFYING EXAM :
This would consist of two components & would come into play for admission to ALL ENGINEERING COLLEGES IN INDIA.
1.1 AIEEE : This is the single All - India Engineering Entrance Exam that Kapil Sibal & other govt officials want & are talking about. This should be a multi-choice Exam in PCM, a single paper of 3-hrs duration. It would test the basic knowledge in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics – it should be evaluated mechanically as the number of students would be very large. Let CBSE run, administer & manage it - as proposed by MHRD. This exam carries a weightage of 60% marks.
1.2 The Boards : The board exams would carry 40% weightage here based on percentile score in your own board, after normalization of the different boards with the formula devised by ISI (as proposed by MHRD).
The Merit List from the above two components would be used for admission to all Central Engineering Colleges. The states would also gradually fall in line & adopt this. Eventually, even private engineering colleges might be brought under this regime.
2. JEE FOR IITs :
A student would have to score above a certain minimum qualifying level set by IIT JEE committee for being considered for admission to IITs. Those aspiring for IITs would take the JEE exam also but they would have to qualify in the preliminary exam for consideration for IITs.
IITs would run, administer & manage the JEE as till now. The JEE exam in PCM could be modified to include some long answers, descriptives & calculation methods & an Aptitude Test to test the fundamentals, logical thinking, application, problem solving & in-depth knowledge. The IIT admission ranking list would be based solely on JEE – the preliminary exam results would not be used in any way at this stage – the student would have to score only above qualifying marks in the preliminaries & after that the prelims would be discarded completely.
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Chandra k Jain
India
call: 93124 39464
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Now, let me discuss the above proposal in the light of various reasonings & arguments put up by different stakeholder groups - the IIT alumni, Parents, Faculty, Students themselves, Govt officials & other interested groups.
My argument here is that ALL students aspiring for IITs will be able to clear the Prelims - they will score reasonably well in their board & on percentile basis, they will get marks between 35 to 40/40. They cannot ignore the board exams even if they are bookish & will have to complete the course material. The AIEEE should also be easy for them - let the CBSE manipulate whatever they want to favour those in power & help them get admission in OTHER CENTRAL or STATE or PVT colleges. There is no way they can stop a deserving candidate from qualifying for the IIT. The Govt officials & Ministry want their hands into admission pie & there is no way WE can stop them - let us just leave them to have their play in the Prelims only & be happy with it. A student has a good chance to make-up in the other exam if he has not done well in one of the two above exams but both these exams should be a breeze for a serious IIT aspirant. A bright student can work hard with focus on these two & secure admission to a good NIT of his choice & not worry about JEE or coaching classes.
The Second exam - JEE for IITs must remain wholly with IITs - no scope of any intervention or interference by the boards, CBSE or MHRD - & we should focus on strategies to remove scope of manipulation & malpractices within the JEE by the IIT administrators - improve JEE in whatever way possible - Aptitude test, long answers, physical evaluation of answer sheets rather than mechanical etc - introduce transparency & accountability.
I do not look at it as a cop-out or compromise. I think it is the only way to save JEE & IIT's control on JEE. Kapil Sibal tried to humor IITians by retaining the name JEE but wresting control from IITs. Let us humour the MHRD by accepting AIEEE & Board as a qualifying Exam but insist on keeping JEE with IITs with improved functioning & governance but out of reach for MHRD or govt officials.
The Govt officials incharge may try to push some of own wards through the qualifying level but they would not be able to pushout the deserving JEE material as the prelims are only a qualifying exam. So any manipulation at prelims will not affect the quality at JEE. This is my contention & i dont see any contradiction.
My point is that there is NO BODY strong enough to stop the MHRD from what they wish to do - the IIT Alumni(specially when we are a divided lot, some of us believing that the govt knows what it is doing & is doing it in the best interest of the country while others see vested interest in whatever is being done), the Faculty Forum, the Directors(whose brief is to follow MHRD dictum) - if we let them have their way with AIEEE, they might let us retain JEE ( the real one, not just for namesake) for IITs instead of abolishing it completely.
The coaching classes(the expense & the stress) is another factor that is mentioned by various parties. They provide education - whatever devise you designate for admissions, they will cater to that - whether AIEEE, JEE or even boards. If the govt wants to provide a level playing field for those who cant afford them - let the govt provide RESERVATION or FREE COACHING for the backward class in these coaching centers rather than in the IITs but retain merit as the only criteria for admission. One cannot wish them away - they are legal & in-demand & will continue to flourish.
Pl give your opinion on these arguments or suggest a better way out.
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Chandra k Jain
India
call: 93124 39464
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From: Chandra Jain
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:34:45 +0530
I have a feeling that our Hon' Minister HRD Kapil Sibal is the chief Architect, Promoter & the Chief Executioner of "KILL JEE " project - in any case, at present he is the chief protagonist & the key figure (more than even the PM) in taking any decision on the subject either way. Let us try to look into his mindset & see why he is doing what he is doing.
Our Hon' MHRD Kapil Sibal was the chief guest at the IITD Golden Jubilee concluding function on 24th Feb. He walked jauntily to the podium & without any direct or even indirect reference by anybody, he himself launched into his new plan for admission to technical colleges in India.
From his air of confidence, it was clear he believed he was delivering a plan that would bring relief to lakhs of students & their parents suffering from the tyranny of JEE & bring about a revolution in technical education. He even tried to impress the audience with his in-depth knowledge of IITians deep-rooted attachment to JEE (after all, those in the audience had cleared the JEE & would be proud of it too) & declared that JEE name would be retained but sneaked-in that it would be administered by CBSE.
There was no murmur of protest by anyone - the Chairman, the Director, the ex-director, the Faculty, the Alumni, the students, the Staff, the administrators - the hall had been sanitized in advance - only respectable-looking pro-establishment types were let into the Seminar Hall - known trouble-makers were kept at bay by a posse of Delhi Police personnel (not just the Institute Security).
No posters, no black flags, no slogans - no sign of protest. A lone voice tried to raise a question at the end of the minister's speech but was shut up - the hon' minister is after all a guest & cannot be heckled!!!
It is said that a memorandum to retain JEE was presented by the Faculty Forum - it was possibly in acknowledgement of this that the the hon' minister magnanimously announced retaining the name JEE for the advanced section of the Common Engg Entrance Exam.
The hon' minister did not see any protest - so he probably believed that 'AL IZ VEL' with the new dispensation since IITD has given him a rousing welcome - & a GO AHEAD.
I believe our hon' minster truly believes that whatever he has proposed is in the interest of the nation & hence in the interest of the IITs. There is no vested interest that he may be aware of - just a desire to take control & fix things.
This gels with his tactics of appointing hand-picked Ramaswamy Committee whose brief & even the report findings had possibly been fixed in advance!
Pack the IIT Council with the right people & what do i care about the Senate or the Faculty!!
Even the Diros have learnt how to say Yas Sir!!!
If we can prove it to him in a language he understands that this is a retrograde step that will hurt the IITs & therefore hurt the nation, i am sure he will see the reality & rollback the proposal.
Can we find the right language & the right platform to deliver it from so that it reaches his ears & his brilliant brain?
Chandra k Jain
India
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From: Somnath Bharthi- IITD
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:19:21 +0530
CK,
Kudos to you for coming out in open without mincing words.
In addition to what I communicated to you yesterday, you may like to consider what Hon’ble Minister Kapil Sibal said on 11.03.2011 during an event titled Gov 2.0. He said “Don’t expect govt to respond quickly, it takes time for the Govt to respond and by the time they do, a national movement gets created.”
As communicate before on this forum, preparations are complete and JEE has already been killed. Now, soft blows will be of no use and rather they will be damaging.
Regards,
Somnath Bharti, Advocate
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From: Ashok Kalbag IITB
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:57:06 +0530
Somnath,
From Chandra Jain's narrative, the memorandum to retain JEE was presented by the Faculty Forum. If so, would you be able to get a copy so see the suggestions made? Yogesh may be able to include them in his compilation.
Thanks & Regards
Ashok Kalbag
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From: Ram Krishnaswamy-IITM
Chandra I share your sentiments. My question to you is do you expect PanIITians to see your point of view ? After all PanIITs Pancha Ratna members were the first to dig the grave for IIT JEE. If IIT Senate members and IIT Diros are yes sir men, PanIIT chaps are no different IMHO. I am not holding my breath.
May be I am wrong let us wait and see what transpires.
Rambo
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