Changed syllabus in state enables record number, say experts.
It used to be a trickle in the past. Now, it is a flood. For, as many as 502 students of Gujarat have cleared the IIT-Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advance this year for the first time ever in the history of the state.
This means they are eligible for admission to the 16 IITs across the country as well as the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University and the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad.
Confirming the figure, sources in the government attributed the success to changes in the education system. “The scene was not good earlier. Hardly 100 students from Gujarat used to qualify for admission to IIT (Indian Institute of Technology). But after the education department introduced the semester system in class 11-12 science, we have been able to achieve this result,” gushed a Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) official on condition of anonymity.
“Another factor was that our syllabus did not match with that of national-level competitive exams. So, we gradually upgraded our syllabus to that of the central board. Moreover, we also introduced the MCQ-based examination format that has given students an experience of national-level examinations,” added the official.
He further stated that the HSC batch of 2013 was the first batch following the introduction of the semester system. Now, in the days to come, it seems the performance of the state’s students will only improve as the board is moving towards increasing the difficulty level of the MCQs in exams that would put the state’s students on a par with the national-level school boards like CBSE.
“The semester system has definitely reduced the burden and given the flexibility in studies. I could prepare for the IIT-JEE exam along with my studies without much stress,” said Soham Ganatra of Gujarat, who has ranked 15th on the all-India merit list.
Nearly 12.5 lakh students from across the country had appeared in the IIT-JEE Main, of which 10,787 students (seven per cent) from Gujarat had cleared the exam and qualified for the IIT-JEE Advance. Out of those, 502 have passed the exam.
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