Washington – PanIIT, the umbrella organization representing the IIT Alumni, on Tuesday reacted to the ongoing controversial reforms floated by Indian Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal to eliminate the present JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) of the elite Indian Institutes of Technology.
Responding to an explanation submitted to India America Today by the minister, PanIIT USA President Siddhartha Chowdhary in a statement cited the position of PanIIT, including a letter from PanIIT India sent to Minister Sibal, saying, “The letter clearly state that the decision of IIT Senates should be respected. In our collective view, they have the autonomy and academic expertise to define the entrance mechanism to IITs.”
In its statement, PanIIT confirmed that it not only had studied the senate resolutions of different IITs, but also worked with the Faculty Forum of IIT to arrive at a consensus solution for this issue.
The PanIIT statement noted that all of them broadly converged on:
School marks can be used for screening or gating purposes, but should not be included in preparing merit lists for short-listing or admissions.
The first level test, whether it is called JEE Mains or aptitude, was acceptable.
A set of short-listed candidates (approximately 50,000 plus) from the first level test and with a school performance meeting the screening criterion should be made for the final advanced JEE Test.
The final JEE test is to be conducted by the IIT system and should be a long answer type, instead of multiple choice questions.
The clarification of the PanIIT position intensifies the clash between HRD Minister Sibal and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the new one test format instituted by Sibal for engineering schools across the country.
Sibal on May 28 had announced that from 2013, aspiring candidates for IITs and other central institutes like NITs will have to sit under a new format of a common entrance test, taking into account the plus two board results. (IATNS)