On Monday, IITs rejected the government’s proposal to set up a committee to introduce changes in the JEE Advanced exam. The changes were proposed in wake of the inadequate numbers of students qualifying the entrance exam this year.
The IITs argued that JEE (Advanced) exam is now a brand and any changes in the pattern to dilute the difficulty level of the exam are not desirable at the moment. They also shot down another proposal which suggested that in the first year, students should only be allocated the college and not the engineering branch.
According to the agenda of the meeting, the government had proposed a five-member panel to “develop a robust and scientifically designed entrance exam system to test the potential of the candidates as well as to reduce their dependence on coaching institutes”.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said, after the meeting, “to address concerns regarding students’ dependence on coaching institutes for cracking JEE (Advanced), IITs will strengthen the Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) program. Under PAL, IIT students and teachers record lectures to help school students crack the entrance test.”
In another significant decision taken in the meeting, each IIT is now free to decide the tuition fee for the foreign students who are enrolled in the IITs M.Tech and research programs and the responsibility for the same has been given to the Board of Governors of each institute.
Tags: Iit Council
Jee Advanced
Hrd Ministry
Prakash Javadekar
