The furore over the change in common entrance exam for the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has died down, but concerns over the format persist.
Referring to the clause under which students have to score within the top 20 percentile to qualify for IITs, Anand Kumar of Super 30 fame said there is a need to examine if the different boards could be brought on par.
“Do all the boards conduct examination with the same degree of fairness? Introduction of new things, like aptitude test will definitely prove to be a deterrent for students from economically backward strata, who study in the government schools, which lack basic infrastructure and quality teachers,” he said.
“Why do coaching institutes mushroom? It is simply because students in search of quality education land up there as the schools are unable to satisfy them,” Anand said.
Students who can afford it would flock to coaching centres for both boards as well as entrance exam preparations, leaving talented students from economically backward strata behind.
Anand said, “Good students will still make it. But for students from economically weaker sections and those in rural areas, it will get more difficult.”
S.V. Divvaakar, Managing Partner at Ace Global Consulting and an alumnus of IIT-Delhi, added that the new format will lead to other distortions, while opening new opportunities for coaching institutes.
“It is another distortion whose impact we will see in the coming years. Let’s say in UP if the overall quality is lower than other States, then the students in the top 20 percentile cut-off will much weaker. It is like a State-level discount for entering the IITs.”
This may create a situation where students who can afford it will shift to States where the cut-offs are lower, he added.
Recently the Council of Boards of School Education in India released a list of approximate cut-offs to be eligible for IITs, highlighting the vast difference among the boards.
On their part, coaching institutes are well prepared to deal with the format change.
Satya Narayan R., Chairman, Career Launcher, said that now they would spend time on mock exams for boards to prepare students. Aakash Chaudhuri, Director at Aakash Educational Services, also said they have similar plans.
Narayan added that their fees would see a 5-10 per cent increase due to the new format.