The moment i read the headlines in today's Times of India, I was dumbfounded! Let me quote it first.
Quote:
Chennai: Marks scored in the Plus Two board examinations are likely to become a key determining factor in addition to performance in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission into Indian Institutes of Technology by 2011. In a couple of months, a pan-IIT panel formed by the Union HRD ministry is expected to suggest how to factor in marks scored by students in higher secondary exams while preparing the IIT merit list. A recent meeting of all IIT directors and JEE representatives in Chennai discussed the proposed changes.
‘‘We hope to devise a methodology to compute a normalised Plus Two cut-off eligibility score for each board. If approved, only students who have scored this cut-off mark will be eligible for JEE,’’ IIT Madras deputy director and committee head V G Idichandy told TOI on Monday.
It is the biggest shocker from the IITs I have ever seen. JEE has always been considered as an exam where your understanding of the subjects is tested, unlike other exams which includes the Class 12th boards and AIEEE. IIT has its own unique way of finding the talent, and the move to give weight to the boards exams seems erroneous to me. The pattern of IIT has always been different from the typical 12th boards in a manner that, to crack JEE a student is required to have the concepts very clear which is not the case with any other existing exam at B.Tech entrance level, they all require cramming of either the stupid NCERT books or some Pradeeps at the most. In these exams, one can get exceptionally good marks without even knowing the fundamentals. At the same time a student who is good at concepts might not do very well in the boards for many reasons.. say he was too busy in building his concepts that he didn't get time to revise the so called IMPORTANT questions for the board exams. There can be many more such reasons, physical illness is also a important one. Moreover, when there is an exisiting cut-off for appearing in JEE, there seems to be no need for subject marks to step in. The point that the panel can make is that they will take every possible measure that the cut-off is not unreasonable for any board. But is it at all necessary? Isn't it scrapping the chance of a student who has scored bad in boards to prove his talent in JEE, let the chance be an iota but it IS there! What could be the reason to eradicate it completely? The trend of involution of boards marks is not a good omen for the fate of the so far unflawed JEE.
Another point: One side the government is talking about ending the 10th boards, and at the same time the voices are rising to increase the importance of 12th boards. A student gets out of 10th class without facing any board exams and then he HAS to[/align] do well in his very first boards. Where is this all policies leading to?