IITs protest against joint entrance test; planning to move court against HRD
Published On: 02 Jun 2012
The HRD ministry's decision to
introduce a new combined entrance test for admission to IITs, NITs and
centrally funded technical institutes, which has come in for all round
criticism, will face a new challenge with the IIT alumni taking the
ministry to court regarding the matter. Sources have revealed that
members of the faculty at IIT-Kanpur have planned to protest the
government's move by boycotting the convocation ceremony to be held
today, June 2, 2012.
Although the
faculty federations have made numerous attempts at seeking an
appointment with the prime minister to explain their views, the HRD
ministry has been constantly trying to engage them. Alumni and faculty
members had a meeting on Friday, June 1, 2012 where they decided to file
petition against the government's proposal within a week. Sources
revealed that petition would be filed at many high courts and they
expect to get a hearing at the earliest so that the new exam format can
be postponed to 2014.
Officials
from IIT Kanpur disclosed that members of the faculty were unhappy with
the government's decision to go ahead with the new test, without
consulting them. They added that the members will now protest by
boycotting the convocation ceremony at the institute. However, some
might attend the ceremony as it is an important day for many students.
Officials from the All India IIT
Faculty federation have written to the prime minister opposing the
government's decision and explaining the dissatisfaction among people
concerned with the IITs across India. The IITs will be raising issues
regarding the decision to consider board exam marks for admission to
IITs. The 15 IITs, with about 10,000 seats in total are also going to
raise concerns surrounding the decision to make a common test for IITs,
NITs and IIITs, bringing down the standards of the institute.
The HRD ministry on the other hand is
trying to prevent the matter from reaching the courts. Sources revealed
that the ministry had conducted lengthy discussions for the last two
years to address various concerns and accommodate suggestions.
They added that the IITs were ready to
conduct the test for about 6 lakh students, but, the new test expects to
witness about 20 lakh applicants. The ministry has stated that it will
allow the IITs to direct the agencies conducting the test.
IITs debating new system
The new format is facing opposition
from the beginning itself, with the IITs being unhappy with the decision
of the government to consider board marks. Faculty federations of the
IITs had also expressed their concern about the standards of the
institute being lowered by admissions through a common exam.
This
discontent among the IITs had earlier forced the HRD ministry to agree
for a separate advance test for the IITs. Following further criticism,
the government has decided to allow the IITs to conduct both parts of
the exam. However, the board which used to conduct the AIEEE will assist
them on this. The difficulty level, setting the question papers,
evaluation and preparation of the merit list will be the responsibility
of the IITs.
Sources revealed that
senior IIT-Kharagpur members were being consulted regarding the same.
The new exam will consist of a main test, expected to be of class XII
board level. The second test will be of the IITJEE level.
The main test will comprise of only multiple choice questions, while
the advanced test may have subjective type questions. The IITs want to
introduce these to be able to distinguish the brighter students, who
would find logical ways to solve problems that are subjective. However,
the plan may get scrapped as subjective answers would also be scored
subjectively by the evaluator. Officials are worried that students might
challenge the scores given under the RTI.
The IITs will also have to consider board marks of the
candidates during admissions, and are miffed about it. Alumni and
faculty feel that using board marks as a benchmark for admission will
lower the quality of the institute. Also, the move has come in for
criticism as poor students will be at a disadvantaged position owing to
lack of quality schooling. Earlier, students needed minimum qualifying
marks to appear for the exam. The new format will give students a better
chance of cracking the IITs. The first merit list prepared will
incorporate 50% of the candidate's score in board exams and main
test.100% weightage will be given to the advanced test scores of such
candidates.
However, for those
seeking admission to centrally funded technical institutes, the format
will be different. For them, 40% weightage will be given to board exam
marks, while the main test and advanced test will carry a weightage of
30% each.
The IITs are also
apprehensive about considering board marks as students will come from
various boards. Normalization of marks from the various boards will be a
debatable issue. The HRD ministry has called a meeting with the state
education ministers to address this concern.
Source: Times of India
