IIT directors’ panel report on new entry system by month-end

Sibal said that he is yet to receive the draft from the panel. After the draft is ready,there will be several discussions on the proposals.

But he added that entry to institutes like the IITs should not be dependent solely on the performance of students in one examination,thereby hinting that the marks obtained in school may also be considered in future assessment systems.

The directors of the IITs who are part of the panel are of the opinion that along with doing away multiple engineering entrance examinations,more weightage should be given to marks of board examinations. The panel of IIT directors,headed by Professor Acharya,was set up in March 2010 along with the directors of IIT-Mumbai,IIT-Roorkee and IIT-Chennai to devise the new entrance system.

The last meeting of the panel was held on July 11 at IIT-Kharagpur. About 4.7 lakh students appeared in the latest IIT JEE examination in 2010 — for admission to over 10,000 seats in 15 IITs across the country.

Asked whether the ministry would take six months to finalize the new system after it receives the proposals,Sibal replied that it would not need so much time. “We do not take so long to take such important decisions. Once we get the report,we will act on it at the earliest,” he said.

The minister,who was at IIT-Kharagpur on the occasion of its 56th Annual convocation said that students in the present situation are under tremendous pressure and there is a need to reduce the pressure and the dependence on coaching institutes.

“There is a crying need for examination reform. Whatever it may require,we will reduce pressure on our children at any cost,” he stressed.

“Coaching institutes in the country are for the rich and the privileged. Children who are not well off cannot afford these coaching institutes. Coaching institutes are not the best way to get into best of the institutes like IITs in the country,” the HRD Minister pointed out.

He added that at present students usually appear for about 20 entrance examinations and the proposed alternative can suggest a single window examination for entrance to both engineering and medical examinations in the country.