416 - Dream of IIT? Cough up more fees SUSHMA U N - Hindu Business Line

Dream of IIT? Cough up more fees

SUSHMA U N

BANGALORE, JULY 5: 

Aspiring IITians will now have to cough up 15 per cent more fees after the new rule regarding entrance examinations for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Fees for a two-year IIT coaching programme currently costs anywhere between Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.8 lakh.

After weeks of controversy regarding a single entrance exam for engineering programs at IITs, the IIT Council has declared students will have to be in the top 20 per cent in the Board exams, and will have to clear the IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) - both main and advanced, to qualify for IITs.

“Earlier, a student would know based on his performance whether he would qualify for IIT or not, but now it is relative to others’ performance, so he wouldn’t mind doing a little more to get more marks and reach the top 20 per cent, Mr Gautam Puri, cofounder of Career Launcher, said.

IIT-JEE training programmes typically include training for both Board exams and IIT-JEE but tests are given only for the JEE, so now we will have to start test series for Board exams as well and will charge additional fees for that, he said.

Kota-based Career Point too would conduct more tests for the board exams, and would “definitely increase fees for students,” Mr Pramod Maheshwari, Chief Executive Officer of the company said, adding that they would also put more pressure on students to do well in the Board examinations. Also, now that the Board exam percentage is given more importance, more students will opt for private tuitions to fall into the eligibility criteria, he added.

“Coaching institutes will be positively affected, and most institutes will now start giving integrated coaching programs, and hike fees,” Mr A.R.K.S. Srinivas, former Director of T.I.M.E Mumbai and CEO of coaching institute VistaMind, said.

Institutes would also tie up with colleges to offer coaching or most of them would soon start their own pre-university colleges for Class 12 and provide IIT training as part of the package, he added.

32 - Delhi IIT- JEE topper is just 14 & home schooled

From: D John 

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:55:59 +0530

Dear Ram,

I wonder if you know these following two cases. Many IITians I spoke to were skeptical about IIT-JEE doing well its job of picking out the 'cream of India' with overall development of young minds, due to intense coaching by the coaching centres, during the last 15 years or so. If you see these two cases, IIT-JEE has done its job well in 2010. One, a prodigy recognised early enough by a well qualified mother and the other, a deserving village boy and both are 'in'.

Regards

 John

1. Delhi IIT-JEE topper is just 14 & home schooled

Neha Pushkarna, TNN, May 27, 2010, 12.47am IST

NEW DELHI: The boy sat hunched, his eyes on the floor and his hands held in a twisted clasp below his knees, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention.

On Wednesday, 14-year-old Sahal Kaushik left everyone gasping in disbelief by not only becoming the youngest ever to crack the tough IIT-JEE test but also topping it in Delhi and notching an all-India rank of 33.

Sahal, schooled at home by his mother, Ruchi Kaushik, a doctor-turned-homemaker, replied after what seemed an eternity to the barrage of questions ^ which IIT would he join? Would he study electronics engineering? He looked up: "I want to study pure science, physics or mathematics, not engineering." He looked down again. "I took the JEE because I could also get science courses through it."

He looks like any other 14-year-old, but is clearly very special. Sahal could spell out long words when he was just two, he recited tables till 100 at the age of four, and by the time he was six, he had finished reading H G Well's 'Time Machine'. The child's brain is obviously wired differently.

He muttered something to the effect that topping JEE in Delhi wasn't a "big deal". Then a long pause. Was he doing some complex mental maths, someone asked. "No," he smiled, "not today." He said he attributed his success to his mother and his "physics sir" but his all-time idol was Albert Einstein. He also wanted to do research in astrophysics. His mother added Sahal may go for a five-year integrated MSc in physics at IIT-Kanpur.

There is no age bar for entering IIT, but a candidate is required to clear class XII. So, Sahal enrolled with Vandana International School, Dwarka, for two years. He scored 78% in PCM ^ marks that might not be enough to get him into a half-decent Delhi University college. Asked about his lacklustre class XII results, Sahal said, "That's because I studied for only four days for each paper."

"This boy doesn't need a pen and paper. He solved JEE orally before selecting the answers. He speaks less, thinks more," said U P Singh, Sahal's mentor at Narayan IIT Academy. In the last two years, Sahal was given a separate group of teachers who taught him exclusively for six hours, six days a week.

"When he came to us at the age of 12 or 13, he said he was interested in electrostatics and also answered complex mathematical problems by just calculating them in the mind. I had never seen anyone like him before," Singh said. "But he is what he is thanks to his mother who sacrificed her career to mentor him so well," he added.

Sahal joined school only in 2006 and cleared class X in 2008. Before he was introduced to classroom teaching, his mother taught him "like it should be". He never took any exam, even through NIOS. "I realised very early that my child was different. I didn't send him to a school as I thought it would make him dull. I faced a lot of social pressure when I quit my practice and started teaching him at home 12 years ago. But it has paid off," said Ruchi Kaushik.

She remembered that she never taught Sahal according to any set pattern. "Sometimes, we would study geography for days together. On some days, he only read novels. When he read Charles Dickens, I told him about society in London back then, and its history too. That's how he learnt," she explained.
Sahal's father, who is in the Army, is posted in Assam. His sister, who is two years younger to him, also studies at home. "My daughter was initially slightly dyslexic but she has overcome it now. She is more into arts and more outgoing than Sahal," Ruchi said.

Sahal has many "older" friends from the coaching centre. His mother has invested Rs 15 lakh to put together a library at home. "All our salary goes into this. We now have more than 2,000 books and Sahal has already read them all," Ruchi said.

Does Sahal have any hobbies? Any special interests? "He knows all about Indian mythology," said Ruchi. "He loves reading about Egyptian history and anthropology." Her daughter, Saras, reminds her, "He also knows horse-riding and swimming."

Little Saras said her brother has won the Olympiads in maths, physics, chemistry, biology and has also worked with Dr Ratnashree, head of Nehru Planetarium, on calibrations in Jantar Mantar. So did Ruchi ever try finding the reason for her son's gifts? "Not really. That's the way he is."

2. AP: Village labourer cracks IIT entrance

Radhika Iyer

Friday, June 06, 2008, (Khammam, AP)

With hard effort and single-minded devotion, you can make possible what seems impossible.

That is what an 18-year-old has shown in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh. With not enough to eat, and no money even to burn the midnight oil, in a village with hardly nine hours daily power supply, the boy managed to secure 453rd rank in the IIT entrance exam. However, he has won only half the battle yet.

At Garikapadu village in Khammam district, the IIT entrance rank holder, Narasimha Rao, is a labour under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

With the daily wage of Rs 80, Narasimha wants to repay dues for borrowing books from a reference library. Even at work, his thoughts revolve around science.

"When I am working in the field also, I think of questions in physics. I just can't understand how these mobiles work? How the waves travel?" says Narasimha.

Narsimha's mother Lakshmi can't tell what exam her son has passed but the labourer parents say their son has made them proud.

"My boy said he would buy me a gas stove to cook after he gets a job. I know he is grown up now. My eyes burn when we burn wood," says Lakshmi.


Narsimha managed to get coaching in an IIT institute in nearby Vijaywada with the financial support by some elders in this village. Now the 18-year-old has to attend counselling at IIT Madras on June 18, for which he does not even have travel expenses.

"After I am settled in life, I promise to pay back the money. I will be so thankful," says Narasimha.

If you want to help Narasimha Rao, write to him at the below mentioned address:

Narasimha Rao Maganti
S/O Appaiah
Garikapadu Post and Village
Wyra Mandal, Khammam District
Andhra Pradesh - 507165

Or you can call him- Mobile No. 9347948136. This number belongs to A Prasad, a resident of the same village.

For online transfer of money - Narasimha Rao Maganti, Account number - 62060623105, SBH, Wyra Branch, Khammam district, AP.

  

31 - Hat trick for Bihar's Super 30, all students crack IIT - TOI

Hat trick for Bihar's Super 30, all students crack IIT
IANS, May 26, 2010, 04.44pm IST


PATNA: All 30 students of Super 30, a free coaching centre in Bihar,

have cracked the highly competitive Indian Institute of

Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) for the third

consecutive year, the institute announced on Wednesday.



"We are really upbeat and celebrating the 100 percent success for the

third consecutive year as all 30 students have cracked the IIT-JEE

this year," Anand Kumar, the institute's director-cum-founder, told

IANS.

Super 30 that helps the economically backward students crack the

IIT-JEE has been selected by The Time Magazine in the list of The Best

of Asia 2010.

The magazine, in its latest issue, said that every year, about 230,000

students take the exam for a seat in the IITs but only 5,000 grab it.



"Last year, 30 of them came from one coaching centre in Patna, capital

of the impoverished north Indian state of Bihar. That may not seem

like many, but for the Super 30 centre it's a pass rate of 100

percent," it said.


Mohammad Sadab Azam, a student of Super 30, said: "Thanks to Super 30,

I cracked the IIT-JEE. Everyone is in a celebratory mood. We are

happy."


Azam, whose father works as a labourer in a village in Gaya district,

said that he had never dreamt of cracking the prestigious exam.

"It was all because of Super 30," he said.


Anup Kumar, another Super 30 student, said the facilities and

encouragement from the faculty made it possible for him to crack the

tough exam.


The institute selects talented students from poor families and

provides them with free coaching, food and accommodation.


According to Anand, "Hard work, proper guidance and supervision are

the secrets of our success.” "We were sure that the results would be

positive as we teach them to eat, sleep, walk and talk only IIT," he

said.



In 2003, the first year of the institute, 18 students made it to the

IITs. The number rose to 22 in 2004 and to 26 in 2005. In 2007 and

2006, 28 students made it through ITT-JEE. In 2008, for the first time

30 students cracked the IIT-JEE followed by 2009.


Anand said the institute is supported by the income generated from his

Ramanujam School of Mathematics, which has students who can afford to

pay fees.


The Super 30 was started by Anand along with Bihar's Additional

Director General of Police Abhyanand. But two years ago Abhyanand

dissociated himself from the institute.

The success story of Super 30 was telecast by the Discovery Channel last year.



"Super 30 is an amazing initiative and it needs to be taken to maximum

people around the globe," said Christopher Mitchell, whose film for

Discovery also bagged the Audience Choice Award at the sixth Indian

Film Festival of Los Angeles.



Three years ago, Norika Fujiwara, a former Japanese beauty queen and

actress, made a documentary film on Super 30 for its innovative and

successful attempt to send poor children to India's top engineering

colleges.

*************************************************

The following is excerpted from "The New Asian Hemisphere: The

Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East, By Kishore Mahbubani,

PublicAffairs, New York, 2008, PP 12-13, .69-70

A vivid illustration of how India is introducing more untapped

brainpower into the global economy is provided by a new school in

Bihar, one of India’s most backward and feudal states. Today a small

group of desparately poor, talented students are entering the IITs,

thanks to Ramanujan School of Mathematics. The school, named after the

famous Indian mathematician, trains thirty bright students,

meticulously selected from Bihar’s least privileged communities, to

take the IIT entrance exam. In the first year (2004), sixteen of the

group made it into the IITs; the next year, twenty-two made it; in

2006, all thirty (known as the “Super 30”) made it into the IITs.

Santosh Kumar, one of 2006’s Super 30, comes from Dumari, a village

whose three thousand residents scratch out meager livings as farmers.

“I didn’t even know which subjects I was good at, and I’d certainly

never heard of IIT. No one had,” he says. Then an eighth grade

teacher noticed his mathematical talent and encouraged him to study

further. Santosh saw that “education was the only way out of poverty,”

he explains. After high school, he enrolled in the Patna College of

Commerce, and then heard about the IITs and the Super 30. He applied

to and was accepted by the Ramanujan School of Mathematics and later

earned a coveted seat at the IIT in Kharagpur. (He ranked 3,537 out of

the 5,000 students chosen.) Santosh now aims to earn a doctorate in

chemistry and become an inventor. His hero is Abdul Kalam. (PP.

69-70)

30 - Hows this for IIT JEE Coaching - Time Magazine

Fri, May 14 03:00 PM 2010 Math whiz' Super 30 in Time list Patna, May 14 (PTI) Time Magazine has selected mathematician Anand Kumar's school - Super 30 - in the list of Best of Asia 2010. Last year, all the 30 students of the coaching institute set up by Kumar in Patna cracked the IIT-JEE examination. "Super 30 centre has a pass rate of 100 per cent. What makes that feat even more remarkable is that these students are the poorest of the poor who would otherwise never be able to afford full-time coaching," the Time magazine said. The students need to pass a test to get into 'Super 30' and then commit themselves to a year of 16-hour daily studies. Since 2003, 182 of a total 210 students have made it to the IITs. The institute's founder Kumar who missed a chance to study at Cambridge for lack of money gives full scholarships, including room, boarding and travel to all the students in a batch of 30 students. Expressing happiness over the recognition, Kumar said, "It is a pleasurable moment for us as 'Super 30' has become an example of what''s possible when human potential is tapped." Education is the only weapon for downtrodden and to rid themselves of poverty and social exploitation, he said. The project has won the notice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who met Kumar in February to hear his plan to launch a national program for talented rural children. _________________________________ On 15/05/10 11:00 PM, Achuta Ramaiah  wrote: hi ram a great article. imagine 100% results from Bihar ?? I remember having heard of a bihar village which sends many successful iitians chaps every  year - they are married off at a young age  to take their mind away from sex etc and lo they do well in Bihar !! No wonder in Bihar you find everthing - genius, dacoity, thefts, political wrangling, best yoga ashrams etc.. A paradox really. One of my classmates in iitm 67 batch  did electrical with us nearly topped the batch - obtained a doctorate from Phoenix university married a Christian girl in USA , sister of Dr Sidhu's wife and was doing well in  bringing up sick companies with no profits and made a name for such work . He did join a ashram in Bihar and wanted to do well in designing a medical instrument cheap for Indians for giving BP , heart rates, sugar levels all in one go . he almost made it but unfortunately picked up viral fever in Africa while touring with his guru and died. His brother lives in Hyderabad and communicate on Internet. He was divorced and is survived by his only daughter Radhika. I made a mention of him in my article under tragic death heading. This by the way . yes do you not  think that Arun Kumar be encouraged . Imagine he is high lighted by Time magazine and even PM notices it - all because he is connected with iit jee and sibal etc are gunning for IITJEE. life is lie that. achuta regards to your wife and famil. jai sai ram __________________________ From: Ranjan Pant  I think efforts like this have the potential to really tranform rural India - it is quite possible in 10-20 years from now, many of these 30 (who are obviously very hard-working and bright) will become successful in life and "give-back" to their villages/rural areas, start new industries/schools there.. -Ranjan ___________________________ From: Varada Raju IITM 1970  I think the entire country and the states of AP, TN & Karnataka ( the parents in these stastes) in particular are much too obsessed with JEE. Agreed IIT gets the cream of the students ( this is the first sentence I heard in IIT) and produces outstanding graduates.                                                    But what about the 2000 or so engineering colleges at the second, third, fourth levels ? What kind of teachers do they have ? In my opinion the fate of the country depends much more on their products than on the handful of IITians. Because they are the ones who must run tomorrow's industries, organisations and the like. If you remember TTJ said in the silver jubilee RU, " If I need someone to do research and develop a new product, I look for an IITian. But if I want an engineer to run my machines and who can handle the bolts and nuts kind of job, I recruit a NON- IITian" It is my guess that there are ten jobs for the routine engineer than for the inventor.                          I think we are all too obsessed about the JEE, the teaching in IIT, the system and so on and do not give a thought to the quality of the products from the non- IITs. My point is instead of worrying too much what we should do to the schools in order to get more people of a given school into IIT, we should see how we can improve the standards at the the non- IITs. I have no specific ideas how this can be done. Regards Varada ____________________________ From: DC CHANDRASEKHAR IITM  Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 21:55:48 +0530 (VARADA) You should contact and get NPTEL that is available for Rs 1 lakh and this contains all the engineering course materials developed by IIT . In case you need any help pl let me know. _________________________________ From: Priya Ranjan Swarup IITK  Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 14:19:47  Ram Don't you see some kind of moonlighting happenning here.  I am confused! PRS __________________________________ From: Vickram Crishna -IITD Anand Kumar spotted the cracks in the IIT-JEE system, and has exploited it to good purpose (giving the poorest but talented people a chance). However, the same cracks have being exploited for the opposite reason (getting people rich enough to pay, a seat in IIT) for much longer than 3 years. Since we all knew about this, I find it hard to believe that the IITs themselves had not.  I feel our campaign to restore the JEE to its original purpose needs to take note of both these phenomena. Just as we do not know, but fear with regret, about the quality of modern IIT grads, we do not know how these poorest will fare once they emerge from the campus. Still, if even one does make something of himself (are they all male?) it will be heartwarming and a tremendous accolade for the IIT system, despite and in spite of everything.  I do not want to disparage the Super 30 solution, but still want to believe that the JEE remains the country's only chance to filter enough people to an institute of excellence, to make a change. Of course, you and I are among the people who were supposed to make that change happen already. However, in this context, let me tell you a story that is apocryphal in the J Krishnamurti school system. Sometime in the late 50s, J asked the principal of Rishi Valley where the leaders of change were, that the school was supposed to produce. In a miff, he quit and started the Blue Mountains School, which still continues to educate differently, at a very small scale - and arguably, a very small scale is the only way that true education can be imparted.   From: Vickram Crishna -IITD-AADT <vvcrishna@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 20:01:36 +0530 To: Ram Krishnaswamy-IITM <ramrajah@optusnet.com.au> Subject: Re: FW: All 30 students of Super 30*, a free coaching centre in Bihar, cracked IIT ***** Anand Kumar spotted the cracks in the IIT-JEE system, and has exploited it to good purpose (giving the poorest but talented people a chance). However, the same cracks have being exploited for the opposite reason (getting people rich enough to pay, a seat in IIT) for much longer than 3 years. Since we all knew about this, I find it hard to believe that the IITs themselves had not.  I feel our campaign to restore the JEE to its original purpose needs to take note of both these phenomena. Just as we do not know, but fear with regret, about the quality of modern IIT grads, we do not know how these poorest will fare once they emerge from the campus. Still, if even one does make something of himself (are they all male?) it will be heartwarming and a tremendous accolade for the IIT system, despite and in spite of everything.  I do not want to disparage the Super 30 solution, but still want to believe that the JEE remains the country's only chance to filter enough people to an institute of excellence, to make a change. Of course, you and I are among the people who were supposed to make that change happen already. However, in this context, let me tell you a story that is apocryphal in the J Krishnamurti school system. Sometime in the late 50s, J asked the principal of Rishi Valley where the leaders of change were, that the school was supposed to produce. In a miff, he quit and started the Blue Mountains School, which still continues to educate differently, at a very small scale - and arguably, a very small scale is the only way that true education can be imparted.   ______________________________________ On 1/06/10 3:01 AM, Achuta Ramaiah wrote: great ram bu the attraction is still iitjee which sibal wants grounded.  you agree ? achuta _________________________________ From: Jairam Sampath-IITM Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 09:36:38 +0530 This movement is excellent.  I will sometime later share my own experiences in smaller towns and government schools in the most backward of regions of India. Our only hope is that the youth coupled with the power of education for the under-privileged will act and clean-up the Indian polity. Kind regards, Jairam __________________________________