State HSC students now stand a better chance of getting admission to top engineering and medical colleges.
With the proposed ISEET and NEET exams due to begin from next year, state HSC students now stand a better chance of getting admission to top engineering and medical colleges.
This is because both the exams might give 40% weightage to the marks scored in the HSC exam.
The ISEET (Indian Science Engineering Entrance Test) will be a common test for engineering aspirants, while the NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test) will be an entrance exam for medical colleges. Both exams will be implemented from 2013.
The ISEET exam will replace IIT-JEE and the AIEEE tests.
Replying to a calling motion in the Vidhan Parishad, minister for higher education Rajesh Tope said the state would set up an eight-member panel to decide the HSC weightage. The panel will give its decision in two months, he added.
The Centre has recommended a 40:60 ratio for HSC marks (in math, physics and chemistry) and the ISEET scores. For the states, it has left the ratio decision on the governments.
A common complaint of educationists and politicians was that in their desire to crack the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET), students would focus on entrance test and manage 50% in HSC exams, the minimum marks required to qualify for engineering colleges. And, this worked against state students given the difference in standards between HSC and CBSE/ICSE. Thus, a certain weightage to HSC marks is expected to help students, besides making them take their exams more seriously.
Opposition members Dipak Sawant and Diwakar Raote demanded that the ISEET exams be held in Marathi for the Marathi-medium students. “We will request the Centre to have the exams in Marathi too,” Tope said.
The IITs have opposed the weightage being given to HSC exams and Union human resources development minister Kapil Sibal is expected to meet them soon to discuss the issue.
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