Govt sticks to single entrance plan for engineering colleges
HRD minister Raju says the govt will
implement the single entrance tests from the next academic year
First Published: Wed, Nov 21
2012. 04 51 PM IST
Updated: Thu,
Nov 22 2012. 12 47 AM IST
New Delhi: The
government said on Wednesday that it will stick to its decision to hold a
single entrance test for all engineering colleges, including the Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs), from next year.
It also ruled out any
extension of deadline for implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act
beyond next 31 March.
Human resource
development (HRD) minister M.M.
Pallam Raju emphasized that there would be no directional
change in education policymaking after he took over the portfolio last
month from Kapil
Sibal.
His remarks put at rest
speculation that the change of guard at the ministry may prompt a relook
at Sibal’s formula of one nation-one test for admission to IITs and
other engineering institutions The IIT Alumni Association said on
Wednesday that it may move the courts against the move.
The government is ready
“to implement it from 2013 academic year”, Raju said at his first press
briefing after becoming HRD minister. “A lot of thought has gone into
it. It’s in the larger interest of the student community. It would be
unfair for me to question it.”
IIT Alumni Association
members wrote to Raju soon after his appointment in the 28 October
cabinet reshuffle. A delegation met him last week and said in a note
that he promised to revisit issues involving the IITs, including the
controversial changes in the joint entrance examination format by his
predecessor.
“They had expressed their
concerns and views, but I did not commit anything,” Raju said on
Wednesday. He said the new format will save a lot of hassle and money
for students who apply for multiple entrance tests held in various
venues. “I think it’s a good system. There will be transitional hiccups,
but it will be streamlined,” he said.
In the new format, all
central government-funded technical institutes will give 40% weightage
to students’ performance in their school board examinations and 60% to
their scores in the common entrance test.
In the case of the IITs,
the top 150,000 students in the common admission test will sit for
another test to enable national ranking of candidates vying for
selection to the elite institutes. A student will also have to finish
among the top 20 percentile in the school-leaving examination to qualify
for admission to the IITs.
Somnath
Bharti, one of the members of the delegation that met Raju,
said the statement by the minister was “discouraging”.
“If this is the response,
then the next step (for us) is going to the court,” said Bharti, a
Supreme Court lawyer and coordinator of IITians for IITs’ Autonomy, an
alumni group.
He said the alumni
association will soon meet and finalize “the next course of action”.
A.K.
Mittal, secretary of the IIT Faculty Federation, said the
teachers’ body was not opposed to the move. “We are not against
implementation of the plan but we have a couple of concerns about
whether a section of the students will miss out due to the new format.”
He said limiting
admission to the top 20 percentile of students in school board exams may
hinder the chances of some otherwise meritorious students.
The new HRD minister also
said he wouldn’t extend the deadline for implementation of the RTE Act.
RTE guarantees education to all students in the 6-14 age group.
As per the Act, all
primary schools need to fulfil at least 11 parameters, including
teachers’ appointments, playground facility and provision of drinking
water, before 31 March. Many schools are struggling with deficient
infrastructure. The draft 12th Five-Year Plan has underlined that less
than 10% of all schools have complied with RTE norms. There are 1.3
million teachers’ vacancies in schools.
“We will move fast and
not change the deadline. Else the purpose will be defeated,” Raju said.
Madhav
Chavan, head of education think tank Pratham, said RTE was a
“very ideal but complicated Act” and the government’s target now seems
very “impractical”.
