Sibal in third push for one engineering test
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Aug
1: The human resource development ministry has decided to set up yet
another committee to study the one-nation-one-test proposal for
aspiring engineers and suggest ways to get the IITs to agree to the
format with some weightage to board marks.
The proposed
panel, most likely to be headed by scientist C.N.R. Rao, would be the
third of its kind to study the feasibility of a single entrance test
since the idea was floated amid opposition from the premier tech
schools.
Unlike the earlier
committees, the new panel will include IIT faculty who have also been
opposing the idea of giving weightage to Class XII marks because of the
heterogeneity in assessment standards among school boards.
The IITs have
agreed to follow a two-tier test — comprising the JEE-Main and
JEE-Advanced — that will replace the IIT-JEE and the All India
Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) from next year.
The JEE-Main, the
first-round test of the new Joint Entrance Examination, will be
mandatory for students aspiring for admission to any of the centrally
funded technical institutions such as the IITs, NITs and IIITs.
The JEE-Advanced
will be conducted entirely by the IITs, which would then draw up a merit
list based on students’ performance in the test and provided they are
among the top 20 percentile holders of their respective boards and
categories (general or reserved).
A student’s
percentile score is obtained by dividing the number of students below
him or her with the number that appeared, and multiplying the ratio by
100.
The two-tier test,
to be followed by the IITs, however, defeats the one-nation-one-test
idea. So HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who has been advocating a single
entrance exam in engineering, started exploring ways to get the IITs on
board.
In 2010, the
ministry set up a committee of IIT directors headed by IIT Kharagpur’s
Damodar Acharya which suggested a common test modelled on the US-based
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and weightage to school board performance
for admission to engineering and science courses.
For IITs, it
suggested an add-on test after the common entrance.
The ministry then
set up another committee, under science and technology secretary T.
Ramasamy, which said there may be two tests — one main exam and the
other an advanced test — with flexibility for institutions to select
students through either the main test or both. But it suggested at least
40 per cent weightage to board marks while selecting students for
admission.
Following the
opposition of IIT faculty to the weightage to board marks and the
one-tier entrance, the ministry felt it should include the faculty in
the new committee to ensure that its recommendations would be accepted
by the tech schools.
In June, Sibal
held a meeting with some IIT Kanpur faculty members on this issue.
IIT Faculty
Federation president K. Narasimhan said a single-entrance test might not
serve the requirement of IITs. “It is good that the ministry is setting
up a committee with IIT faculty members. This means there will be a
thorough discussion and better analysis of the whole issue. But a single
test cannot serve the requirement of the IITs. It can only be a
filter,” he said.
“I do not think
the IITs will agree to the idea of weightage to board marks also. The
standard of syllabus, teaching and assessment procedure varies from
board to board. These things have to be brought on a par,” he added.
Dheeraj Sanghi,
who teaches at IIT Kanpur, said an advanced test like the IIT-JEE helps
identify students who are “better”.
“In IIT-JEE,
nearly 20,000 students out of the five lakh taking the test are able to
score over 30 or 40 per cent. Large chunks of students score near zero.
This … helps the IITs identify those students who are better,” Sanghi
said.
Asked whether the
IITs would agree to a one-tier common entrance if its standard was
improved to the level of the IIT-JEE, Sanghi said such a test would not
help lower-rung institutions. “If you make the common test a tough exam,
then 70 per cent students will score close to zero. The engineering
colleges in states will find it difficult to select students,” he said.
“Besides, it will destroy the self-confidence of lakhs of students.”
