469 - Government to go ahead with JEE

 NEW DELHI, November 22, 2012

Government to go ahead with JEE

Special Correspondent

Rejecting the demand to review the joint entrance examination for admission to undergraduate engineering courses in the centrally funded technical institutions, the government on Wednesday said it would go ahead with the proposed test in 2013.

The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Alumni Association had met the new Human Resource Development Minister, M.M.Pallam Raju, last week and asked him to review the decision for including the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) under the purview of the joint entrance examination (JEE).

``I reviewed the proposal after the Alumni Association met with me and realised it was in the interest of the students. It would be unfair for me to question the decision and we stand to implement it (JEE) in 2013,’’ Mr Raju told reporters here.

The IIT Alumni and Faculty Associations had opposed the joint admission test right from the beginning on the ground that it would dilute the standard of the institutions and have even met the Prime Minister on the issue. A delegation of the IIT Delhi Alumni Association had met Mr Raju on November 16 seeking his intervention in reviewing the proposal. The Minister had assured them he would study the proposal and get back to them within a week.

``I have examined the issue. It is a good system and we will stick to it. There may be initial hiccups but it will streamline eventually,’’ he said.

Based on the recommendations of Ramasami Committee Report which suggested a common national examination with weightage to State Board results normalised on the basis of percentile formula for admission to engineering institutions, the joint engineering examination had, however, been stiffly opposed by the IITs and after lot of deliberations managed to have an additional exam for selection to the IITs.

The JEE for admission to the undergraduate programme in engineering would be conducted in two parts: JEE-Main and JEE-advanced. JEE-advanced examination will be held after the JEE-Main with a suitable time gap. Only top 150,000 candidates (all categories) in JEE Main will be qualified to appear.

Admissions to IITs will be based only on category wise All India Rank (AIR) in JEE Advanced subject to the condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful candidates of their Boards in applicable categories. The admission to NITs will be based on 40 per cent weightage for performance in Class XII Board marks normalised on percentile basis and the remainder 60 per cent weightage would be given for performance in JEE Main and a combined merit list would be decided accordingly.

The HRD Ministry has also decided not to grant any extension to States to fully roll out the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The deadline for full implementation of the Act ends on March 2013.

``We are committed to meeting the deadline. We will work with the States lagging behind in the implementation,’’ Mr Pallam Raju said while admitting that there was shortage of teachers, infrastructure was woefully inadequate and there were issues over mid day meals following the government’s decision to increase the price of cooking gas.

``However, we will work with the States in overcoming these challenges. We will hold hands, coax, threaten and eventually work with them,’’ the Minister explained though he did not spell out any plan of action to achieve the goal. ``Our will is the plan to meet the challenge,’’ he said.

``We would not like to extend the deadline and neither have any States demanded any extension though many States do face genuine problems related to infrastructure development and recruitment of teachers. There is a shortage of 13.5 lakh teachers at school level. 

314 - One nation, One test - DEccan Herald

One nation, One test

Prakash Kumar, June 16, 2012

Common Entrance Test: Some IITs refuse to come under the ambit of CET saying it is flawed

With the vision of relieving aspiring engineers from the burden of writing multiple admission tests, the government recently decided to conduct a joint entrance examination for entry into all centrally-funded engineering colleges, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), from 2013.

The Human Resource Development Ministry planned to launch the new common entrance test, unanimously approved by the apex IIT Council, National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology, at a joint meeting held in the national capital on May 28.

But, the implementation of the proposed test, which seeks to merge IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination for admission to IITs) and AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Examination), has encountered a major roadblock as a section of the faculty, students and alumni of the IITs are up in arms against the examination format, citing several lacunae.

The joint entrance examination proposal has its genesis in the ‘in-principle’ approval accorded to it by the Council of IITs in its meeting held on September 14 last year.

This was based on the T Ramasami Committee report, which recommended a common national examination with weightage to marks obtained in the state board exams, and normalised on the basis of percentile formula developed by the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. 

Though many IIT faculty members and alumni did not favour a common test, an opinion poll on the Ramasami report, conducted through the Central Government’s portal last year, saw 85 per cent of the participants favouring the reforms in the current entrance test system, while 73 per cent supported holding a national test like the scholastic aptitude test conducted in the United States.

IIT faculty came up with differing views on the proposed normalisation of the Board marks through percentile formula, weightage to be given to the Board examination, eligibility criteria, methodology of selection and the year of  introduction of the proposed test.

A faculty member of IIT-Kanpur contended that the one nation one test would put rural children at a disadvantage as it  was bound to have elements of the existing JEE that tests conceptual rigour. Rural students are not exposed to the kind of rigour needed to understand fundamental principles in any domain. However, a majority of the respondents (66 per cent), who participated in the opinion poll, had favoured giving weightage to overall and consistent performance in examinations of school boards.

All the states had consented to the proposed common test, and many, including Maharashtra and Gujarat, expressed their eagerness to adopt it in the technical institutions coming under their jurisdiction.

Even as the government was giving a final shape to the proposed reforms in February this year, the Senates of the various IITs reviewed the proposal between April 25 and May 5.

Of the seven old IITs, the Senates of IIT Guwahati, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee supported the proposed joint entrance examination. IIT Bombay proposed to retain the present system “with minor modifications”, while IIT Kanpur’s Senate wanted “substantial modification”, an HRD Ministry official told Deccan Herald.

The views of the IIT Senates were placed before the IIT Council held on May 12, and again at the joint meeting of the Council with NITs and IIITs on May 28.

The Council in its May 12 meeting observed: “By and large,  the middle ground of opinions expressed by  IIT Senates recommend that the Class XII Board results along with the National Test (Mains) be considered as screening or gating with the National Test (Advanced  level) being solely used for ranking purposes for  admission to undergraduate programmes.”

It also took note of the proposals of some of the Senates that a limited number of candidates (about five times the number of seats for admission in the IIT system) from the screening be considered eligible to appear in the Advanced test to be conducted by the IITs. It further agreed that the details of the Advanced test would be finalised in due course of time through discussion among the IITs so that it could be implemented from the year 2014.

Subsequently, the members of the Council decided to adopt the two-part joint entrance examination  to be held on the same day, from year 2013. 

Under this two-tier selection procedure, the Council allowed the IITs to first assess candidates on the basis of the JEE Main and their Class XII marks normalised on percentile basis,  giving equal weightage to both, and screen a fixed number of students. The Council made it clear that the ranking for admission to undergraduate programmes in IITs would be based entirely on the performance in JEE-Advanced by the screened candidates.

But for other Centrally funded technical institutions (CFTIs), it was decided that they would continue to be governed by the proposed policy of ranking based on 40 per cent weightage to Class XII Board marks, 30 per cent weightage to performance in JEE-Mains and another 30 per cent weightage for performance in JEE-Advanced.

The Council decided that both JEE-Main and JEE-Advanced tests would be objective and multiple choice type. It was agreed that the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of the IIT system would have “complete control” over the academic components of the test such as paper setting, evaluation and preparation of the merit list, among others, while the CBSE will provide the administrative and logistic support for the conduct of examination across the country.

But, this did not convince opponents of the common test. The Council’s decision was dubbed as an “attack on the autonomy” of IITs by their alumni association. The All India IIT Faculty Federation has sought that the government restore IITs’ autonomy by “officially” seeking ratification or acceptance from the various IIT Senates on the joint entrance examination finalised by IIT Council.

The Senate of IIT-Kanpur has raised a banner of revolt against the Council’s decision and even passed a resolution to hold its own examination for admissions to the institution’s under graduate programmes in 2013.

The Senate authorised the Institute’s director to set up a committee in consultation with the dean of academics for finalising the modalities of the entrance examination. The committee, to the extent possible, shall coordinate with other IITs to conduct the test jointly. The resolution passed by the Senate, however, is subject to approval by the Board of Governors of the IIT before it comes into effect, as per the Institute of Technology Act, 1961.

Legal route

The IIT Alumni Association has threatened to move court against the IIT Council decision.

Association president Somnath Bharti contended that under the IT Act, the IIT Council can only advice or recommend. It is the Senate of each IIT which has powers to promulgate ordinance relating to various matters, including admissions, which, of course, has to be approved by the Board of Governors.

HRD Ministry officials, however, counter the argument stating that the IIT Council can lay down policy under the IT Act in “matters of common interest”, and issue of admissions to the IITs is a matter of common interest. “IIT Council is the highest decision making body of the IITs,” an official said.

280 - How Kapil Sibal rode roughshod over IIT autonomy - First Post

How Kapil Sibal rode roughshod over IIT autonomy

by FP Editors Jun 12, 2012



The problem with Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is that he tries to be too clever by half. It was clear right from the beginning that he wanted a common entrance examination for engineering, and that is what he has now engineered by trampling on the autonomy of the IIT Senates and using the IIT Council – where the votes are stacked in favour of the government – to push his idea through.

Sibal’s technique was this. First, pretend to hold a dialogue without actually listening; next, push the idea through a rubber-stamping body and then claim that the whole process was done through dialogue and consensus. A dialogue of the deaf is no dialogue at all.

An Indian Express story explains the sequence of events to prove that Sibal did how own thing and ignored the actual consensus. He may insist that he had consulted all stakeholders before deciding on the common entrance exam for all engineering colleges, but the fact is the IIT senates and faculty members had raised objections to the new format on various occasions and these were studiously ignored.

Each IIT has a senate,  created under the IIT Act, which consists of representatives from the faculty of the IITs and students. The senate discusses the operation of each of the institutes. It is headed by the Director of each IIT.

Representative image of IIT Bombay. AFP

A committee headed by Damodar Acharya, the Director of IIT Kharagpur, was formed by the HRD ministry in 2010. According to the Express report,  the IIT Kanpur faculty had rejected the committee’s report saying it hadn’t consulted with specialists. This was as far back as 2010.

In 2011, a committee headed by T Ramasami, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, made the recommendation that weightage should be given to Class XII marks in addition to the two exams – JEE mains and JEE advanced.

This was then endorsed by the councils of the IITs and NITs in November 2011 and by state education ministers in February 2012.

However, this new measure never found any favour among most IIT senates.
IIT Kanpur senate held a meeting on 15 February in which members of the senate criticised most of the new measures and suggested they not be implemented until all the IIT senates had discussed it. Among the major complaints they had included the quality of the class XII examinations conducted by each state education board, the methods used to collect the views of all stake holders among other issues.

However, the HRD ministry instead set up a core committee to interact with the older IITs and said they would also reach out to the academic community from the IITs to get their views on the issue.

On 5 May, the IIT Bombay senate also recommended that the new system not be implemented from 2013 and should instead be ratified by them before being implemented. The IIT Delhi senate also raised objections to the new JEE format being implemented from 2013.

Despite these varied recommendations from IIT senates and the faculty on the new JEE format, the HRD ministry told them that the final decision would only be taken by the IIT council which did not have to be dependent on what the senates had said.

However, whether the the IIT council truly represented the opinion of the IITs is debatable. Of its membership of 30-32, roughly half (16) represent the IITs and IISc (through their respective chairman and director, and the balance are all nominees where the government has clear influence. This means Sibal only had to split opinion among some of the IIT directors and a majority would support his ideas at the IIT council.

Thus even as the All India IIT Faculty Federation met Sibal on 25 May to impress on him that the senates’ views should form the basis for any decision on a common entrance test, Sibal had already decided otherwise. Which is why he told them, that while their inputs would be taken, “final decision will be taken only by the IIT Council which could be different from the IIT senates’ majority decisions”.

This statement, quoted by the Express, clearly shows how Sibal won the day by disregarding what the faculty were telling him and breaking the unity of the IIT faculty on the issue. This is not a difficult task since the appointment of IIT chairmen depends on the HRD ministry.

And on 28 May, Sibal held a meeting with the councils of the IIT, IIIT and NIT and announced the creation of the new entrance examination for engineering colleges from 2013.

While the new examination scheme  may be the future of the IITs, it perhaps wouldn’t have hurt if the minister had chosen to preserve the autonomy of the IIT senates. The faculty have a bigger stake in brand IIT than politician Sibal. All the IIT Senates were asking for was to defer the common entrance exam decision to 2014 to consider better options. But Sibal was in a a hurry for his own reasons.

213 - State Education Ministers Conference - MHRD

STATE EDUCATION MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE

AGENDA ITEMS & BACKGROUND NOTES


5th June, 2012 At 11.00 A.M. The Banquet Hall, Hotel Ashok, New Delhi

MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

AGENDA & BACKGROUND NOTES FOR THE STATE EDUCATION MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE 5th JUNE, 2012 AT 11.00 A.M.
Venue: Banquet Hall Ashok Hotel, New Delhi

1.	Confirmation of the Minutes of the State Education Ministers’ Conference held on 22nd Feb. 2012	4-27
2.	Joint Entrance Examination for Admission to Engineering Programmes in Centrally Funded Technical Institutions	28-37
3.	Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill and Public Private Partnership for establishment of IIITs	38-40
4.	Implementation of RTE –SSA	41-61
5.	Revised Teacher Education Scheme	62-84
6.	Implementation of Sakshar Bharat	85-109
7.	Setting up Model Schools under Public Private Partnership	110-123
8.	National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF)	124-127
9.	UGC Regulations on prevention of discrimination and establishment of Ombudsman	128-130
10.	Accounting Standards for Educational Institutions	131-132
11.	Setting up of Community Colleges	133-134

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11.00 -11.10
11.10- 11.15
11.15 -11.35
11.35-13.30 13.30-14.30 14.30-15.00
15.00 -16.50 16.50-1700

MINUTE TO MINUTE PROGRAMME
Inaugural Address by Hon’ble HRM
Agenda Item 1 Confirmation of the Minutes of the State Education Ministers’ Conference held on 22nd Feb. 2012 and Submission of Action Taken Report
Presentation on Agenda Item 2- Common Entrance Test for
Admission to Engineering Programmes
Presentation on Agenda Item 3- IIITs Bill and Establishment of IIITs on PPP mode
Discussion on Agenda Item 2 & 3
Lunch
Presentation on Agenda Item 4- Two Years of RTE –SSA Presentation on Agenda Item 5- Revised Teachers Education Scheme
Presentation on Agenda Item 6- Shakshar Bharat Discussions on Agenda Items
Concluding Remarks

STATE EDUCATION MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE 5th June 2012

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AGENDA ITEM 1 CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE STATE EDUCATION MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE HELD ON 22nd FEBRUARY, 2012
The State Education Ministers’ Conference was held on 22nd February, 2012 under the Chairmanship of Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development. List of the participants is at Annexure-I.
1. Hon’ble HRM in his opening remarks welcomed his colleague in the Ministry, Dr. D. Purandeshwari, Education Ministers of States, Secretaries of the Departments of Science and Technology, School Education and Higher Education, academics and officials of the Ministry of HRD and State Governments present in the Conference. HRM said that the reform initiatives are being implemented with the co-operation and support of the States. On the vocational front, a Committee was set up in 2011 under the Chairmanship of the Education Minister of Bihar, Sh. P.K. Shahi with the objective to strengthen vocational education throughout the country. The Report of the Committee has given valuable inputs into the National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) which is the main architecture of Vocational Education. He mentioned that substantial progress in different sectors of education has been made which include Right to Education, launch of Sakshaar Bharat and examination reforms at secondary level. In higher education, focus is on improving access with equity and excellence. HRM highlighted the need to ensure that our children are empowered to compete at every level. He said that what is of utmost importance today is to reduce the burden of children as they move out of school into the university system. Before the commencement of the proceedings, he condoled the demise of Dr. V.S. Acharya, Karnataka State Higher Minister who had demised recently on 14th February, 2012.
1.1. Thereafter the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 8th June, 2011 were confirmed and Action Taken Report on the same was noted by the Hon’ble Ministers participating in the Conference.
2. Agenda Item 1: Common eligibility test for higher education in science & engineering
2.1. Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology
Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, DST described the consultation process adopted by him and said that the concept of having an alternate admission system for looking at science and engineering subjects was proposed at the IIT council. At that time, it was recognised that some co-relation exists between the performance at State Boards and the final performance of an

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individual in the IIT system. Hence, a provision to include the State Board performance into admission system was felt necessary. Although a proposal was initiated to standardize the syllabus and curriculum so that all the State Governments will have the same system, but this, was not found feasible and it was decided to continue with the present diversity in the different State systems. The proposed system is a result of certain harmonization without losing the identity of each State Board in their present form. What is proposed in the new system is that all the State Boards will continue to have their own syllabi and their own testing protocols. While arriving at the formula, major State Boards with varying range of students appearing in the board exams such as West Bengal, Central Board and one of the smaller Board with a range of 25000 examinees, another with about six lakh and one more with ten lakh students taking exams were considered. All of them seemed to have a very simple algorithm which can be co-related. Indian Statistical Institute analysed the data of six years of about thirty lakh students coming from this process and it was found that a common co-relation exists regardless of the size of the Board. He then explained the formula of working out the percentile. In terms of benefits, all States in the country will retain their own state board systems and can now get a certain objective national test feed into the selection process. Certain institutions, such as the IITs, presently do not take into account performance in the school, as a result the students tend not to take school board exams seriously and focus only on the entrance examination. Now in the present analysis, the students will have to give importance to their board exams because certain percentage weightage will be assigned to it. Some percentages have been suggested but probably these can be finalised after discussion. He thanked all those who gave tremendous support in developing this particular formula. He stated that this was the outcome of a collective exercise of this committee and he believed that this august body should discuss and advice on the move forward. He visualised that this common test is best way forward which could reduce the number of board and competitive examinations which are far too many.
2.2. Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur.
Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande said that the main issue which the Government is trying to address is the menace of multiple entrance examinations. He said that the whole phenomena of entrance examinations started in mid-sixties, particularly when the National Institutes came into existence and entry was on an All-India basis. In the secondary and tertiary education, there is lot of stress on students as they have to appear in variety of entrance examinations, causing hardships and stress to students.
He referred to the earlier Committees and the systems of entrance examinations that emerged from their recommendations. These are the Khandelwal

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Committee, the Chandi Committee and the Acharya Committee. Subsequently the Ramaswami Committee was formed which went through a very rigorous methodology.
The Ramasami Committee is probably the first important exercise in the history of the country that enables one to compare the scholastic level of students from different States. According to the suggested formula, the percentile score is more important than percentage. He then explained in detail the proposed methodology envisaged for the new entrance examination.
2.3 Shri C. Damodar Raja Narasimha, Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh
He stated that the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh welcomes the reforms initiated by the Union Government in streamlining the process of admission to Engineering Colleges in the country with the objective of doing away with the multiplicity of entrance examinations. He suggested a longer time frame for adoption of the National Curriculum from 2014 instead of 2013, which will give considerable space and preparatory time for the parents and students.
With regard to the conduct of new examination, in addition to National Language and English, he suggested that the option of regional language should also be incorporated as almost 40% of the +2 students write their examinations in the regional languages.
2.4. Shri Hemant Biswas Sharma, Hon’ble Education Minister of Assam
While welcoming the proposal for Common Entrance Examination, Shri Hemant Biswas Sharma, stated that it will re-emphasise the need of school education and also in some way, curb the racket of tuitions and coaching. He pointed out that students will have two syllabi one at the plus two stage and the other for aptitude and advance subjects for the entrance examination. He opined that by 2014 it would be possible to adopt some of the syllabi which is prepared for the common entrance test into the school curriculum as presently aptitude tests are not conducted in remote schools of rural areas. He requested to incorporate the syllabi for Entrance Examination in the National Curriculum for plus two, so that rural students can be prepared for the same in next two years.
Hon’ble HRM responded that there is no separate syllabus for the Entrance Examination. As far as rural and remote areas are concerned, the examination committee/professional committee will set the examination papers, taking into account

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students from both rural and urban areas. He felt that 2014 is too distant and was of the view to implement the system in 2013 itself.
The Hon’ble Minister of Education of Assam felt that the very fact that some marks will be given for the Board exam result will be beneficial for the students of remote states such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh etc.. He extended wholehearted support to the proposal. HRM thanked the Minister and said that the system will improve year after year. The new examination should make a beginning in 2013.
2.5 Shri P.K. Shahi, Hon’ble Education Minister of Bihar endorsed the view of Honourable Dy. Chief Minister from Andhra Pradesh that one regional language should be included in the Exam. He also referred to the need for reduction of 40% weightage in Board examinations. HRM clarified that the new examination could commence in 2013 and as this system moves forward, it shall respect all the regional languages and efforts will be made to include them. In response to the request to bring down weightage for school examination, from 40%, HRM stated that though weightage of 40% is proposed, the States/ institutions are free to decide on it.
Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur clarified that no formula has been indicated by which the 40% weightage will be given for Board Exam Result and it would depend on the academic Institution. He, however, was of the view that that 40% weightage looks to be meaningful and sufficient.
2.6. Shri Brij Mohan Agrawal, Hon’ble Education Minister, Chhattisgarh,
Shri Brij Mohan Agrawal, Hon’ble Education Minister, Chhattisgarh demanded wide publicity of the proposed Rules and Regulations, before implementation and said that suggestions/ modifications may need to be incorporated. He mentioned that in Chhattisgarh, 32% people are tribals and detailed discussion is needed on how students from such States will be able to participate and take admission in the proposed Common Examination. He felt that adequate attention is not being paid to such remote areas, particularly Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur informed that when the Rules & Regulations are framed, this will be taken into consideration.
2.7. Shri Ishwar Dass Dhiman, Hon’ble Education Minister, Himachal Pradesh,
desired that concerns especially of students in backward areas, remote areas, affected

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areas should be taken into account while moving forward. Shri Ishwar Dass Dhiman felt that it is injustice to equate children with rural background with those of urban background and said that children in cities go to coaching centres whereas children in remote areas are deprived of this opportunity. As a solution, to enable equality, these coaching centres should be closed. With regard to reservation, he pointed out that all States cannot be considered equal in terms of development, some have language problem, and others have geographical disadvantage. He requested for more time to examine the pros & cons and to obtain feedback from States and suggested that the new proposal be approved only after detailed examination.
Prof. Dhande clarified that examination and admission are two separate processes. He said that this new process has made an attempt to ascertain if it could reduce examination stress in children. In so far as admission is concerned, full freedom has been envisaged to all States Educational Institutions. Only one suggestion has been made i.e. to give at least 40% weightage to Board exam, so that the State Boards, will get their due recognition. He again said that regional languages will be given due importance.
HRM clarified that efforts will be made to hold examination in regional languages as well. He also clarified that there will be more examination centres so that examinees from remote areas are not put up disadvantage. He agreed to the general perception that children of rural areas are neglected, but there is a need to change this situation by bringing in percentile system applicable for all Boards.
2.8. Mr. Jenab Abdul Gani Malik, Hon’ble Minister of Higher Education, J&K
Hon’ble Minister of J&K supported the proposal and felt that the new system will provide improved access to rural students. He felt that it is better than the existing system and that in the coming months more improvements can be put in place.
While supporting the proposal, he stated that nothing has been stated about reservation etc. HRM clarified that the existing reservation policy will be applicable for the proposed examination. Responding to this, Shri Baidyanath Ram, Education Minister, Jharkhand, demanded to consider differential cut-offs such as 50% marks for general category, 40% for SC/ST students. HRM clarified that it is not the matter of 40% marks, but 40% weightage for Schools Boards results, which will help in arriving at aggregate marks as this will also benefit poor students from rural areas.

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2.9 Shri Baidyanath Ram, Hon’ble Education Minister of Jharkhand was concerned that the new system gives equal weightage to students of urban areas to that of rural areas. Responding, HRM clarified that in order to settle this issue, the percentile system has been envisaged which will equalise the different Board marks. Shri Baidyanath Ram requested that the process of equalisation on percentile basis be elaborated. HRM clarified that the concerns expressed by him have been taken into account, and also the percentile formula was prepared in consultation with Indian Statistical Institute to bring in uniformity.
2.10 Dr. T Ramasami. Secretary, Department of Science & Technology clarified that there will a separate percentile, for SC/ST/OBC groups for inclusion and compliance of all provisions of the Constitution both in letter & spirit. Based on the last seven years data of 28 School Boards, it is seen that the inclusion of the Board Examination system in admission process helps in uniform distribution and inclusion of students from small towns and villages of far flung areas. The present entrance examination systems like IIT-JEE are still in favour of metros, whereas the Board Examination are more uniform, throughout the country.
In response to Karnataka Education Ministers’ demand for wider discussions, on the proposal, HRM informed that the Department will circulate the draft rules and take suggestions into account before attempting to start the proposed Examination in 2013. Shri Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, Hon’ble Education Minister of Karnataka also informed that the State is changing the syllabus from the next year and requested for one more year extension i.e. 2014- 15 for the implementation.
2.11 HRM requested Prof. Dhande to clarify the issue. Prof. Dhande clarified that for the last fifteen years, this postponement is going on and more and more students are suffering every year. Thus, the time has come for all of us to initiate the change and be appealed to commence this new system of entrance examination in 2013. He further stated that the syllabus for this test will be based on the core curriculum of all the States. He also mentioned that there was a meeting of COBSE, the Council of Boards of Secondary Education, of all the States in which, 11 States were represented and they all supported the new examination pattern. So he felt that the new examination system could be implemented in 2013. Shri Baidyanath Ram, Education Minister, Jharkhand informed that the new examination pattern is acceptable but for making necessary preparation, some more time is required. The Education Minister of

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Jharkhand also desired to know as to what would be the image of IITs after implementation of this proposal.
2.12 Smt. Archana Chitnis, Hon’ble Education Minister, Madhya Pradesh
Smt. Archana Chitnis stated that IITs are an established brand with tremendous credibility and IIT students have an enviable reputation in India and abroad. She desired to know whether HRM had any discussions with experts about allowing IITs to join the new entrance examination or to keep it as a separate entity. If so, what is the opinion of experts? It was clarified by Prof. Sanjay Dhande that some faculty members had said that IITs will gradually be integrated into the new system.
Hon’ble Smt. Archana Chitnis suggested that it would be desirable to have separate examination for one or two years and integrate IIT into it subsequently. HRM responded that there would not be any problem, as IIT themselves have agreed for 15% weightage in the first year.
Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology further informed that in fact the IIT faculty will be setting the test for the main as well as the advanced examinations and that the process of integration of IIT Joint Entrance Examination has been considered. He further pointed out that the way entrance examinations are presently conducted, the children do ignore the State Board Examinations and take only the Entrance Examination. After a detailed discussion with all the faculty members and the IIT Council, this suggested combination of giving weightage to the board exam has been accepted.
Smt. Archana Chitnis desired to know who will set the question paper and who will be conducting the examination. HRM explained that while the academic matters will be handled by IIT, however, CBSE will be responsible for conduct of the examination. Smt. Archana Chitnis supported the proposal in concept and said that the percentile is not answer to all questions as two States may have different academic standards. Smt. Archana Chitnis also desired to know the per child cost for conducting this examination. HRM informed that whatever is the cost, the Centre will bear the expenses.
Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande further clarified that for all the Entrance Examinations taken together i.e. around 11 lakh in AIEEE, 6 lakh in JEE and other examinations put together, the number of examinees is around 20 lakh which will go upto 25 lakh within the next 20 years. As the two organisations, CBSE and IITs, have the capacity to

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conduct examinations for 12-15 lakh students, they could jointly carry out this task. Smt.Archana Chitnis also suggested that further discussions should be held before finally approving the proposed pattern of examination. HRM agreed to the suggestion and informed that it will be implemented with the consent of the States.
2.13 Sh. D.P. Savant, Hon’ble Education Minister of Maharashtra welcomed the National Common Eligibility Examination for engineering students. He said that he had some apprehensions in the beginning but after the deliberations made over here and the clarifications and detailed information given by Dr. Ramasami and Prof. Dhande, there are no questions and no queries from his side and he wholeheartedly supports the new Examination Pattern from 2013. HRM thanked him for his support.
2.14 Dr. R.C. Laloo, Hon’ble Education Minister of Meghalaya
While welcoming the Common Entrance Examination for Science and Engineering, he demanded that the prevailing state quota of seats for his state by the Ministry of Human Resource Development should not be disturbed and the State should be allowed to follow the existing procedure for selection of students for studies in different Engineering and Science Colleges in the country.
2.15 Shri Lalsawta, Hon’ble Education Minister of Mizoram
Hon’ble Education Minister of Mizoram while welcoming the proposal for reforms to relieve the burden of the students said that the State would like to continue the use of allocated seats from State. Regarding the Common Entrance Examination, he said that the State would like to have more details before joining the Common Entrance Test, but at the moment, it might be good if the State is allowed to continue with the present system of making selections from the State. HRM categorically informed that the quota for the North Eastern States will continue, and it will not be disturbed by the proposed examination.
2.16. Shri Pratap Jena, Hon’ble Education Minister of Odisha
While congratulating the Minister for various reforms initiatives, Hon’ble Education Minister of Odisha, welcomed the efforts being made to bring reforms to eradicate the differences between the students of the urban areas and the rural areas. While welcoming the examination reforms, he pointed out that when the Board realises that their percentile will enable the students in getting admission, then there could be manipulation in examination system at the Board level as well as in question paper

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setting so that their children will fare well in the Board exams. He said that Odisha has made all out efforts to implement the reforms measures, but he felt that the overall objective of the reforms should be to provide better quality of education. In response to Odisha Minister’s suggestion to give more weightage to the students of rural areas, HRM clarified that that the percentile system will take care of this aspect. Prof. Dhande further clarified that as regards giving weightage to Boards, the matter was discussed in a meeting with the Chairmen of the State Boards. They said that the transparency in the State Boards is increasing because of RTI. The second point they mentioned was that, if the State Board marks are going to be important for the process of admission, immediately there would be a positive feedback which will help the State Boards to improve. The State Boards are also interested in eradicating the malpractices, but unfortunately they are not getting empowered, because examinations are not having any importance in admission. So the issue raised by Hon’ble Minister has as much importance to all of us and the Department is addressing it.
Shri Pratap Jena also requested that the concept note be sent to all the States who should be given some time for more discussions at the State level and the State will give their observations and suggestions again.
2.17 Dr. D. Purandeshwari, MOS informed that this present meeting is basically to get the consent of all the State Governments to the reforms that are proposed by ushering in a Common Entrance Examination system. The procedure and the modality of the same will be decided after discussions with the State Governments and the State Governments will be taken into confidence before the relevant Rules and Regulations are framed. As regards the suggestion of Odisha Education Minister to send the concept paper to all the States, MOS (HRD) agreed to the suggestion and informed that the concept papers have already been placed on the Ministry’s website.
2.18 Shri Brij Kishore Sharma, Hon’ble Education Minister, Rajasthan
congratulated the HRM for bringing in the Common Entrance Examination and said that whatever reforms are taken into consideration by the Centre, the State will fully support it.
2.19 Shri N.K. Pradhan, Hon’ble Education Minister, Sikkim welcomed and extended support on behalf of Government of Sikkim for the proposal placed by the

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Ministry and hoped the new system of Entrance Examination will go a long way in bringing about important changes in the overall education system.
2.20 Shri Matbar Singh Kandari, Hon’ble Education Minister, Uttrakhand
welcomed the proposal and congratulated HRM for bringing in the Common Entrance Examination and expressed confidence that with the new pattern, there will be no commercialisation of education and it will be possible to get rid of donation as it will be a transparent process. In this context, he desired to know whether, there will be quota for each State.
Dr. D. Purandeshwari, MOS (HRD) clarified that there is nothing like a quota for the State Govt. as this is for children belonging to the entire country to be given an opportunity to get access to institutions such as the IITs. She further clarified that the proposed examination system will give equal opportunity to all children irrespective of rural or urban or any other bias, as such it had nothing to do with quota for States.
Shri Matbar Singh Kandari Hon’ble Education Minister of Uttarakhand, pointed out that in the educationally backward States, there is a concern as to how their students will benefit from this new pattern of examination. Prof. Dhande clarified that the percentile formula is a big breakthrough from the point of view of educationally backward areas. He, however, agreed with the Hon’ble Minister from Uttarakhand that at the time of implementation, it could be further improved. He felt that the percentile itself is an answer to many problems.
2.21. Shri Palaniappan P, Hon’ble Minister for Higher Education, Tamil Nadu
pointed out that there is strong evidence that a significant majority of people of Tamil Nadu considered CET as an additional and unnecessary burden on the students aspiring for admission to professional courses. The State of Tamil Nadu favours the elimination of CET on account of several disadvantages faced by different vulnerable sections of student population such as rural households, Tamil medium, and under privileged categories. The syllabus for the Entrance Test could be common, but standards across school boards differ. Students, therefore, are at a disadvantage. They believe that admission should be based on the quality of examination at ten plus two and this is established from the increase in the number of rural students availing

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admission to professional degree courses in the State. The percentage of rural students admitted into engineering courses during 2005 and 2006, when the common entrance test was conducted was 56.72% and 58.26% respectively. The Tamil Nadu Govt. was not in favour of Common Entrance Test and after the abolition of CET, this trend has reversed and the percentage of rural students has gone to 68.79% in 2011. Keeping this in mind, the issue of CET was taken up on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and it was unanimously decided that the State is not in favour of CET as it will be disadvantageous to the interest of students. Therefore, the Govt. of Tamil Nadu is not in favour of CET.
Dr. D. Purandeswari, MOS (HRD) responded that the Centre appreciates that Tamil Nadu has done away with the CET and is giving admission to the students based on Class 12 marks but that is for State Universities and State Institutions and not for IITs and central institutions. For IIT, students will again have to take a common national level exam. In the new pattern of examination, the IITs are made accessible to children coming even from the rural areas by simplifying the entrance exam process across all Boards. She clarified that this reform is to make it accessible for children across Boards to compete, whether they belong to the rural areas or to the urban areas.
Shri Palaniappan said that we need to ensure a level playing field to students from rural areas and poor families. MOS(HRD) clarified that the proposed exam will give an opportunity to the children coming even from the rural areas.
Dr. T. Ramasami pointed out that though the State of Tamil Nadu has eliminated the CET for the State, students seeking admission to any institution outside the state will have to take anywhere between seven to fourteen examinations in other places, in spite of the fact that there is no CET in Tamil Nadu. The proposed formula provides an opportunity for the country as a whole to include the weightage of State Board Examinations and provides an opportunity for normalizing the board scores and bringing one co-relation through a statistically, scientifically established way. He requested for the state of Tamil Nadu to welcome such a change.

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Shri Palaniappan P, Hon’ble Minister of Tamil Nadu Minister felt that the percentile formula in the new proposal needs careful and detailed study and agreed to examine the proposal in consultation with his Hon’ble Chief Minister and send response in due course.
Shri V. Umashankar, PS to HRM clarified that there are approximately 150 entrance examinations in India for Engineering. There is a need for reducing the multiplicity of these examinations which is possible with the co-operation of the States. The decision to fix the weightage has been given to the States. If a State wants to give 100% weightage to the State Boards, they are perfectly free to do that, whereas some other State may decide to give 40 % weightage and other States may decide National examination to be the basis. In response to the query raised by the State Minister whether Colleges outside MHRD would be joining the Examination, Shri Umashankar clarified that discussion has not been held with such institutions. At present, Central Institutions under HRD Ministry would be joining and for institutions under other Ministries, dialogue is open with them.
2.22. Shri Rabiranjan Chattopadhya, Hon’ble Education Minister, West Bengal
The Minister said that the State Govt. is yet to receive a copy of the Ramasami Committee recommendations. After receiving the copy, his Government will discuss the matter and give its opinion. He reiterated that as the examination is on All India basis, the syllabus particularly in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics should also be on all India pattern. Secondly, the medium of examination should be in English Hindi and Regional languages. MOS (HRD) informed that the Ramasami Committee recommendations are on the website of the Ministry. She clarified that initially the examinations will be conducted in Hindi and English but of course, later on, with wider consultations with the States, examination could be conducted in the regional languages as well.
2.23 Shri N.G. Pannir Selvam, Hon’ble Education Minister, Puduchery
He informed that earlier the State had Joint Entrance Test, but it proved to be disadvantageous to rural students. It was, therefore, abolished and at present students are admitted in the institutions functioning in the Union territory based on marks scored in plus two examination. He stated that the proposed Common Entrance Test will be examined in detail and they will convey their views shortly.

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MOS (HRD) clarified that this exam will be for the central institutions which are under the Ministry of Human Resource Development and only those State Government who want, may adopt this process for their own Universities, but the Ministry will not come in the way of the State Governments. The Centre will not tamper or interfere with the State Institutions and States are free to follow their own pattern. This exam is largely to facilitate children seeking admission into the centrally funded institutions.
2.24 Ms. Vrinda Swarup, Principal Secretary U.P.
Ms. Vrinda Swarup appreciated the proposal of the Centre and said that the proposal is in the right direction. The IIT entrance process is being broad based and School Boards, which were earlier neglected in this process, are finding place. She said that the State is accommodating almost a lakh students in B. Tech seats in U.P. every year. She also suggested to consider the validity of Common Entrance Score like SAT which will again reduce pressure on children to continuously keep competing and upgrading themselves. The other critical and related issue is that there is a large private sector which subscribes to seats in the engineering side and it is with great difficulty and through Supreme Court and High Court interventions that understanding has been reached to bring private institution into the Common Entrance Exam. She also pointed out that the issue of revenue sharing will have to be worked out in detail in the proposed examination system and the states must be part of the consultative process before the detailing on this aspect. Regarding the science exam, she said that, apart from the higher-end science institutions of the Central Government which need advance levels of science, to put a common B.Sc student through an entrance exam is something which cannot be endorsed.
MOS (HRD) conveyed that for B.Sc., the State Governments can decide their own formulas and the Centre will not be interfering in that. As a principle, entrance examination in Higher education, should not be encouraged as they create one more hurdle. She said that the revenue sharing pattern between the State Governments could be worked out. She also informed that since the initiation of this dialogue, the State Governments have been taken into confidence. The very concept of introducing a common core curriculum in core subjects in Science & Mathematics is to create an

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enabling atmosphere so that every child will have an equal opportunity to access these higher institutions.
Prof. Dhande said that regarding science streams, in the last five six years, a new system of Science Education has been introduced through the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research(IISERs).
3. Agenda Item II - Vocational Education
3.1. Presentation by Smt. Alka Bhargava, Director, D/o SEL, MHRD on National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF)
Ms Alka Bhargava in her presentation on NVEQF gave an overview of the status of skill development in the country and the requirement for vocational Education. The target set for 2012-13 by the PMs National Council on Skill development is eighty five lakhs persons across all the seventeen plus ministries. She explained that the NVEQF has been divided into ten levels and the student will be having different options from class nine. Also in the framework a student can move from vocational to general education and vice-versa. She further stated that the vocational education which is happening in schools, would be partly skill development and partly general education so that this could pave the way for a progressive pathway for the student to follow and get skills as well as the certificate/diploma or degree at that particular level. She mentioned the development of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) but even with the development of NOS, the curriculum and the course material will have to be reviewed periodically and the training material etc. will have to be tailored accordingly after every three to five years. She concluded by drawing attention to the recommendations of the Report of Group of Ministers that that there should be a co-ordination cell for vocational education in the states consisting primarily of Departments of Education, Labour & Industry along with local industry so as to have a strategy and then implement NVEQF at all different levels across sectors.
3.2. Presentation by Dr. S.S. Mantha, Chairman AICTE on Vocational Education

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In his presentation, Dr. Mantha said that currently no framework is in place for vocational education to lead students to get a diploma or a degree in vocational education. The National Vocational Education Qualification Framework aims to build skills and general education together at several certificate levels and progress to diploma and further to a degree. He explained that the principles used in NVEQF include localized approach, maximum impact skills and sectors are identified. The framework covers various sectors, vocational courses are of short duration, focused, modular, practical hands on, delivery in local languages, through full day, half day or week end programmes, network of centres, full mobility between formal, vocational streams of education and the job market with multi point entry and exist. In 2012, AICTE would be in a position to implement this Vocational Programme.

150 - Scientific approach needed to include board marks in Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test, says govt committee - TOI

Scientific approach needed to include board marks in Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test, says govt committee

Abhishek Choudhari, TNN | May 27, 2012, 01.06AM IST

NAGPUR: The two government-appointed committees set up to look into a common engineering exam have strongly suggested a 'rigorous and scientific approach' for including Std XII board marks in the admission process.

Both the Acharya and Ramasami committees have made their stand clear on an issue which now pretty much threatens the union HRD ministry's plan to give India its first common entrance test.

TOI has accessed both the committee reports and it gives an insight to the road map for the proposed Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET).

The HRD ministry first constituted a committee in March 2010 under the chairmanship of D Acharya, director of IIT Kharagpur, and tasked it with finding an alternative to the present examination system into engineering colleges, including the prestigious IITs.

Later in May 2011, another committee was formed under the chairmanship of T Ramasami, secretary in the department of Science and Technology. The second committee's task (which included former chairman Acharya) was to work out a realistic method of holding the ISEET in a country where there are multiple boards and similar methods of evaluation.

While setting up the committees, the government had made it clear that the board exam marks should be 'given due weightage' thus leaving aptitude to be the main focus area for the ISEET. An HRD ministry letter dated March 8, 2010 which announced the formation of the Acharya committee emphasized that the new CET should 'constitute of an aptitude test which gauges the raw intelligence of students and lays less emphasis on physics, chemistry and mathematics as these are already tested at the board level'.

The Acharya committee recommended that before the inclusion of board marks there should be a common syllabus across the country. In its interim report, the Acharya committee says 'the board examination results could be brought to a meaningful common base if all boards use the same question paper for examination and common model answer for evaluation'. In their consultations with the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) the committee was informed that 'most of the boards will implement the common curriculum and syllabus in physics, chemistry, mathematics and bioscience by 2012'.

It further added that board results across the country should be released by May 1 to facilitate a smooth coordination for the ISEET, along with every student using the Unique Identification Scheme.

Later, when the Ramasami committee submitted its report to the government in September 2011, the ISEET had taken a more definitive shape. The committee said that a rigorous and scientific approach has to be taken if board marks are to be included.

This 'scientific approach' job was then given to the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) which studied results of ICSE, CBSE, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu boards. 

The ISI worked out a mathematical formula which is aimed at 'normalization' of board marks before its inclusion in the admission process.

It is this formula which is not finding favour with the IITs. A source in one of the older IITs said, "It is impossible to equate scores of CBSE to that of Bihar board. 

It is just not the curriculum but also the evaluation methods that are being used at these places." The HRD ministry officials however are convinced that the IITs are not favouring the idea of inclusion of board marks itself.

Many meetings have been held between all stakeholders but no common ground has been reached. Now everyone, including HRD minister Kapil Sibal, will assemble for a major meeting in the capital on Monday where a final decision on the ISEET is to be taken.

60 - FULL RAMASWAMY COMMITTEE REPORT

60 - FULL RAMASWAMY COMMITTEE REPORT - CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ FULL REPORT 133 PAGES LONG OR CUT AND PASTE THE URL BELOW TO YOUR BROWSER

http://www.iitsystem.ac.in/IIT-Frame/Ramaswamy-Report/ramasami-report-annexures-merged.pdf

43 - Cloud over IIT-JEE to lift next month - Business Standard

Cloud over IIT-JEE to lift next month

IITs say the new pattern of examination for admissions will help the institutes get better students

Kalpana Pathak & M Saraswathy / Mumbai Mar 15, 2012, 00:44 IST Come April, the suspense over the new Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) will finally be over. With the deliberations done and reports submitted, IIT directors say a final decision on when to introduce the new pattern of the examination is likely next month. The wait has been a real cliffhanger, say students and faculty members at IITs and the engineering test-preparation institutes. “The report was accepted, and since then several discussions have taken place. With regard to the implementation, a lot of details still have to be looked into. A formal notifications will come in by April. We cannot keep the younger generation guessing for too long,” said an IIT director. Last year, the IIT council accepted the recommendations of the T Ramaswami Committee report on JEE reforms, which proposed a single entrance test for all engineering colleges — including IITs, National Institutes of Technology and private institutions. According to the Chandy Committee report that established a correlation between school performance and IIT performance, it was concurred that students were doing better in the school. IIT directors says due to the culture of coaching classes, schooling system has been thrown out of the window. So much so that students do not attend schools because of the pressure of such training programmes. Industry experts feel that exams like IIT-JEE have been causing difficulties at the school level, as the focus has been shifting from school education to IIT-JEE exam. Students do not attend schools and instead join coaching institutes. “Today school teaching and Board exams are neglected due to pressure of coaching classes. Students focus only on learning physics, chemistry and biology and don’t learn about geography or English, which are the subjects taught in schools. The ministry has therefore convinced the IITs to consider school education in IIT-JEE,” says Gautam Barua, director, IIT Guwahati. Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal, has maintained that the exams will be called JEE only, and the IIT faculty will set the papers. “School board exam marks (Class XII) will be given weightage, and that is likely to be about 40 per cent. The new system will help the premier institutes get better students,” Sibal had said last month. He added that with the coaching system dominating, students were ignoring board exams and were focusing only on coaching for the JEE. Faculty members unhappy Kapil Sibal has maintained that the new format of exams for entrance to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will ensure brighter students getting through to the prestigious institutions. But the IIT faculty is not convinced. The All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) says admission to the IITs, as per the IIT Act, is a function of the ‘senate’ which was never consulted. “Reforms in the admissions process is the need of the hour, but you cannot do it without consulting the faculty. We have suggested that the test should be held in such a manner that it acts like a filter. Students who clear the test at the preliminary level can seek admission to other engineering institutions. However, there should be another test only to select students for the IITs,” said Atul Mittal, secretary, AIIITFF. Faculty members argue that the quality and standard of the education boards in India differ. And hence the formula which the government is proposing has a problem. Sibal has said that the exam will be held in two parts, mains and advanced. The first part will be an aptitude test, and the second part will check the student’s depth of knowledge. IIT directors. however, agree that there are several bodies involved — the IIT Council, MHRD and the councils of the Centrally-funded engineering institutes — and to reach a consensus on this issue will take time. Test-prep institutes wait and watch Rao IIT is seeing this change as an opportunity for students. ‘Earlier, only students scoring 95 per cent plus would get through. Now, even students scoring 80-85 per cent stand a chance to get into the IITs,” said Chandan Dikshit, marketing head at Rao IIT Academy. Rao IIT has also hired professors who coach students for MBA examinations. The institute has begun the process of hiring more coaching personnel to teach students the analytical and data interpretation aspects of the exam. Dikshit informs that parents of the students at Rao IIT Academy are pleased with the decision to have a single examination. “Students are a little confused about the new exam pattern. It will take some time for them to accept it,” Dikshit added. As students reel under the pressure of preparing for IIT-JEE in addition to keeping up with the syllabus at school, test preparation institutes say they are maintaining status quo. RK Sharma, senior manager (student welfare) at Resonance, said they were awaiting the exact syllabus of the aptitude test and the advanced test. Pramod Maheshwari, CEO, Career Point Infosystems, a Kota-based IIT-JEE training institute, said they are in a wait-and-watch mode. Maheshwari had earlier said that given the changes in IIT-JEE pattern, his company will launch a school curriculum coaching division and also look at partnering with schools to train students on campus. “Seeing the kind of shift the regulatory framework may bring in, we are looking at incorporating some changes in our business model. We are gearing up to open a school curriculum coaching division by next academic year. So far, we have been preparing students for competition examination, but now we have decided to partner with schools and prepare students for board exams too,” said Pramod Maheshwari, chairman and managing director. IITians protest on social media The displeasure against the new examination has been brought out in a facebook group led by ex-IIT students, called IITians.org. The group believes that the quality of students will be affected. Moreover, the new exam is untested and may lead to complications, according to the group. “Students and parents will now be at the helm of the coaching institutes. The only uniqueness about IIT is IIT-JEE.  Kill that and IIT students will be just normal (and some below normal). Aptitude and not mere book knowledge is very important to become an IITian,” said the founder of the group. Further, the group has given various calls for protests and class boycott at the IITs. Their aim is to be bring back the status quo to the IIT admission process.