I agree. Absolutely... what if a student on that one particular day of the mega-entrance exam, has a headache, or a minor accident, or a stomach upset? ...he is screwed for one year until he can appear next year !!
Then what about school board exam or JEE? If a student falls sick that day, he/she will have to wait for another half a year. Which of these students would IIT wish to admit? A completely exhausted cram school one or someone who has received well rounded school education? The proliferation of cram schools and the billion rupees business associated with it has already caused serious dents in our education system. It is quite unfortunate that a disciplined student who fares well in all spheres of life falls short of the ones who go to cram cities where there are many schools that offer 12th std. certificate for money. Finally, those who shine well in corporate/academics are those who had been sincere (attendance, submission of assignments etc...) in IIT. Today, a student has to take about 15 to 20 entrance tests. There are enough data available to show that those who are prepared fare well in all these test whereas, who who write to test their luck loose in all these. Therefore, why not replace 15 exams with one? The last point I would like to make is about IIT K. It is not fair on IIT K's part to oppose the unanimously taken decision by the government as IIT K also runs by the generosity of tax payers. Most of the research and infrastructure is funded by government. The resolutions taken by senate will exacerbate the situation in IIT K as there will be high resistance in terms of funding and support from the government in future. Lets promote, encourage and cherish righteousness and strongly condemn illegal, circumvented and serpentine routes.
For what its worth-my 2 cents 1.board exams-taken by everyone leaving the school 2.Entrance exams-taken by those who want to pursue higher education As a layperson the questions I have are 1.what are the challenges faced in terms of logistics & cost in conducting these entrance exams 2.of late,there has been an alarming increase in the use of unfair means to clear exams including paper leaks, impersonating the actual candidate.Even use of high tech means like hidden communication devices. So how do we proceed from here
Actually, the current proposal merely combines two exams (AIEEE and IIT JEE) into one. There is a hope in the Govt. that all State Govts will adopt this exam, but that will take some time, I personally dont think it will happen. Further, there is a proposal to have this exam more than once in a year. But it will require some more time to finalise because normalisation across different exams have to be worked out, or a sufficiently large question bank has to be created so that uniformity among tests will be there. Then again, if it agreed to have only an aptitude test, then holding it more than once like SAT, will be much easier.
@Anonymous: I am all for closing down cram schools. But one single test for all possible seats is terrible tension. If it is like GRE, that's fine, but it's not. I have no comments on IITK's actions, since I don't know much about that. @gyan2bodh: malpractice is very common in state boards and state universities.That's one of the points raised by some of the people against this unified test. @gautam:A SAT/GRE type aptitude test is good since it does not promote such tension as teh JEE does.
In US, you can appear in SAT (or GRE/GMAT) as many times as you wish and can send your best scores to the university. This is only one of the parameter for your admission. You need to show your leadership ability in many fronts, that's why music/sports are considered important because they give you possibility of showing of your capabilities. An all round person is much better for any school/university/job than the person who is singular only in one direction.
Well, even now, you have the same problem with State Boards, don't you? You fall ill on that day and your entire year is lost?
I think the point is that any system that caters to the size and scale of India will have numerous complications, corner cases, etc. etc. While academicians would love to solve problems fully, the real world does not operate that way. I have been trying to argue that the current proposal is a fair start and it has the ingredients to work itself out into a very good solution, but the people who are upset are perhaps too upset to listen: www.indillect.blogspot.in
@GnaanaMaargi: State board exams can be written again and again. In AP, we even have an 'Instant' exam...if you fail one subject, say physics, you can write just the physics exam within a month and get your result as pass with the new Phys marks well before the admission to BSc gets done. The stress is not the same. @Rainbow scientist: Ideally you are right. We must consider all aspects. But is that feasible? If admission to say IITs, is made subjective, interview based, the officials' nephews and nieces will fill up the seats. As GnaanaMaargi says, any solution will have many issues uncovered.
9 comments:
I agree. Absolutely... what if a student on that one particular day of the mega-entrance exam, has a headache, or a minor accident, or a stomach upset? ...he is screwed for one year until he can appear next year !!
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Then what about school board exam or JEE? If a student falls sick that day, he/she will have to wait for another half a year.
Which of these students would IIT wish to admit? A completely exhausted cram school one or someone who has received well rounded school education? The proliferation of cram schools and the billion rupees business associated with it has already caused serious dents in our education system. It is quite unfortunate that a disciplined student who fares well in all spheres of life falls short of the ones who go to cram cities where there are many schools that offer 12th std. certificate for money. Finally, those who shine well in corporate/academics are those who had been sincere (attendance, submission of assignments etc...) in IIT.
Today, a student has to take about 15 to 20 entrance tests. There are enough data available to show that those who are prepared fare well in all these test whereas, who who write to test their luck loose in all these. Therefore, why not replace 15 exams with one?
The last point I would like to make is about IIT K. It is not fair on IIT K's part to oppose the unanimously taken decision by the government as IIT K also runs by the generosity of tax payers. Most of the research and infrastructure is funded by government. The resolutions taken by senate will exacerbate the situation in IIT K as there will be high resistance in terms of funding and support from the government in future.
Lets promote, encourage and cherish righteousness and strongly condemn illegal, circumvented and serpentine routes.
For what its worth-my 2 cents
1.board exams-taken by everyone leaving the school
2.Entrance exams-taken by those who want to pursue higher education
As a layperson the questions I have are
1.what are the challenges faced in terms of logistics & cost in conducting these entrance exams
2.of late,there has been an alarming increase in the use of unfair means to clear exams including paper leaks, impersonating the actual candidate.Even use of high tech means like hidden communication devices.
So how do we proceed from here
Actually, the current proposal merely combines two exams (AIEEE and IIT JEE) into one. There is a hope in the Govt. that all State Govts will adopt this exam, but that will take some time, I personally dont think it will happen. Further, there is a proposal to have this exam more than once in a year. But it will require some more time to finalise because normalisation across different exams have to be worked out, or a sufficiently large question bank has to be created so that uniformity among tests will be there. Then again, if it agreed to have only an aptitude test, then holding it more than once like SAT, will be much easier.
Gautam Barua, IITG
@Anonymous: I am all for closing down cram schools. But one single test for all possible seats is terrible tension. If it is like GRE, that's fine, but it's not. I have no comments on IITK's actions, since I don't know much about that.
@gyan2bodh: malpractice is very common in state boards and state universities.That's one of the points raised by some of the people against this unified test.
@gautam:A SAT/GRE type aptitude test is good since it does not promote such tension as teh JEE does.
In US, you can appear in SAT (or GRE/GMAT) as many times as you wish and can send your best scores to the university. This is only one of the parameter for your admission. You need to show your leadership ability in many fronts, that's why music/sports are considered important because they give you possibility of showing of your capabilities. An all round person is much better for any school/university/job than the person who is singular only in one direction.
Well, even now, you have the same problem with State Boards, don't you? You fall ill on that day and your entire year is lost?
I think the point is that any system that caters to the size and scale of India will have numerous complications, corner cases, etc. etc. While academicians would love to solve problems fully, the real world does not operate that way. I have been trying to argue that the current proposal is a fair start and it has the ingredients to work itself out into a very good solution, but the people who are upset are perhaps too upset to listen: www.indillect.blogspot.in
@GnaanaMaargi: State board exams can be written again and again. In AP, we even have an 'Instant' exam...if you fail one subject, say physics, you can write just the physics exam within a month and get your result as pass with the new Phys marks well before the admission to BSc gets done. The stress is not the same.
@Rainbow scientist: Ideally you are right. We must consider all aspects. But is that feasible? If admission to say IITs, is made subjective, interview based, the officials' nephews and nieces will fill up the seats.
As GnaanaMaargi says, any solution will have many issues uncovered.
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