Coaching institutes say the proposed move to raise the bar for IIT-JEE will only help them; Minister dissociates himself from comment
Coaching institutes say the proposed move to raise the bar for IIT-JEE will only help them; Minister dissociates himself from comment
Was Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal thinking about coaching institutes when he asked students to prepare early for a seat in country's top tech school?
Though Sibal claimed to be "misquoted" over the issue coaching institutes felt that the proposed move, if implemented, will only help their cause.
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What's the Fuss? Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal Pic/ Imtiyaz Khan |
The minister, credited with many revolutionary steps since his taking over the ministry from the veteran Arjun Singh, had reportedly asked a panel of IIT directors to suggest a revised entrance system under which marks obtained in Class XII will be given importance along with the marks obtained in the joint entrance examination.
"I think Kapil Sibal is himself not clear about the idea. He wants to do away with the coaching institutes by calling for greater weightage to marks obtained in class XII examination. However, with the student's concentrating on their senior secondary exams more than the entrance, we stand to gain a lot. We are not at all worried by the move." said Ulhas Vairagkar, Director, T.I.M.E., Delhi.
He said the students will have to look for other options if they concentrate on 10+2 scores. Vairagkar said as the school teachers are not trained to help students with their entrance exam preparations, coaching institutes will get more IIT aspirants.
"If a student is not confident about scoring high in senior secondary then he will have to think beyond IIT-JEE. The move will lead to segmentation," he added.
Managing Director, Career Launcher, Gautam Puri agreed that the coaching schools would get more students as a result of the proposed change.
"Students will now not only seek coaching for IIT-JEE but also for Class XII exams. The coaching industry will now be doubly benefited. Students will now be more focused on both the exams and prepare simultaneously," Puri said. The curriculum committee will have three months to submit its report and concentrate on new areas of study for the institutes. While some of the recommendations will be implemented in the 2010 academic session, all of these will be implemented by 2011 academic session.
Joining issueThe Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (popularly known as IIT-JEE or just JEE) is an annual entrance examination. A total of 15 colleges use JEE as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programmes. The fifteen colleges include the seven old and six new Indian Institutes of Technology, IT-BHU Varanasi, and ISMU Dhanbad. The exam is conducted by the various IITs by a policy of rotation. It is one of the toughest engineering entrance exams in the world with a success rate of around 1 in 45.
Sibal speakThe Government of India has no role to play and any report which suggests that there is a proposal to allow only those who obtain 80 per cent marks in their Class XII examination to sit for JEE is baseless. The only decision that has been taken by the IIT Council is that the IITs will submit a report in January, 2010 to rationalise JEE. It is entirely their decision to decide on the eligibility criteria. It is they who will consider weightage is to be given to the Classu00a0 XII examination.
