Date:23/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/23/stories/2008092353410200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Committee to re-examine IITs admission procedure

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

Dean of Students, IIT-Madras, V.G. Idichandy to chair it

Aims to make selection procedure independent of the coaching classes
If accepted by the government, the reforms may be implemented in 2010

CHENNAI: The Indian Institutes of Technology have decided to re-examine their admission procedure. Their Board of Directors has appointed V.G. Idichandy, dean of students at IIT-Madras to chair a committee to explore reforms in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) system.

The committee will seek to make selection procedure independent of the coaching classes that have mushroomed to train students for the JEE, Dr. Idichandy told The Hindu on the sidelines of the IIT-M Golden Jubilee Run held on Sunday.

“The selection process should become more universal. The coaching classes are playing havoc with the system,” he said. “If it was put to me to decide, I would abolish the JEE.”

‘Not inclusive’

Dr. Idichandy felt a system that would reward students for consistent performance at the school-level both in academics and in extra-curricular activities was needed. If the JEE system was to continue, he felt that perhaps the cream of students from the school level could be selected to appear for the JEE. That would give credit to performance in the school board examinations as well as the entrance examination.

Dr. Idichandy felt that the current system was not inclusive, since neither women students nor those from rural areas got much representation in the B.Tech programmes. Coaching institutes put their students through a rigorous programme, often requiring residential stay, something that was unacceptable to the parents of many girls, he said.

The result was that only 8 per cent of B.Tech students were women, he said, adding that measures should be taken to ensure at least 30 per cent of representation for them.

The committee headed by Dr. Idichandy will submit its report within six months of its first meeting. The final decision on the reforms will be taken by the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development, he said. If accepted by the government, the reforms may be implemented in 2010.

Dr. Idichandy has prior experience of the attempts to reform the JEE. In 2004, he was the convenor of the special task force set up by the IIT directors to recommend JEE reforms.

Both the eligibility criteria and examination pattern were changed as a result of that task force, with the screening test system being abolished.