The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) occupy an exalted position among the educational institutions in India and have become much sought-after brand names universally, with their graduates getting absorbed readily in the domestic and international markets. Those who opt to pursue higher studies abroad also find it easy to get into reputed universities with the IIT stamp. No wonder then that as many as four lakh students took the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to the 15 IITs this year with only 10,000 seats available. This extremely low and discouraging success rate at the admission test (less than 3%) does not seem to deter them from taking such a slim chance, going through two or three years of hard preparation and spending a lot of money on coaching classes.
For the sake of quality control, it is important to restrict the number of students taking the JEE since the number of seats cannot be increased any further. The only way to achieve this objective is by raising the qualifying marks at the class XII examination from the present 60% to as high as 85%. This is where the well-meaning minister Kapil Sibal ran into unexpected trouble. Perhaps 75% would have been more acceptable as it turns out now. Whichever percentage is finally decided upon by the IITs as the qualifying cut-off, the number of students who qualify with the raised bar will certainly not be as high as four lakhs. It will more likely be in the region of a few thousands and accordingly the success ratio will go up considerably to around 20:1 or even 10:1 which will be a lot healthier than the present 46:1.This is where the merit of the suggestion lies.
The prevailing system of admission only benefits the coaching classes enormously because every student who has been scoring 60% at the plus-two stage looks up to them for acquiring that magical “competitive edge” and tends to ignore his regular studies.It also brings in a tremendous workload to bear on the IITs, each of whichhas a separate JEE Cell functioning right through the year with a lot of academicians and other non-academic staff working in tandem to organise such a complicated competitive examination in a fool-proof manner. The only saving grace is that the JEE is self-sustaining financially and does not eat into the institutes’ funds.
If from 2011 the IITs do not have to handle as many as four lakh students, it will be a great relief for all those involved in organising the examination at several centres spread all over the country. Likewise all those students, who do not have the requisite scores, need not go through the futile but gruelling exercise and instead can concentrate on other ways to further their qualifications.
The prevailing system of education, particularly higher technical education, needs to be revamped thoroughly and urgently and it will have to be done with a great amount of study and consultation. The best way is to advise the universities and colleges to adopt the academic structure prevalent at the IITs. It gives considerable freedom to the teachers and the students. Some institutions have already started doing this. The benefits of such a
system will be phenomenal.
What then are those magical features that make the IITs so special? Even though there are several, the most important ones, quite clearly,are: the strict quality control enforced at every stage, the academic freedom given to the teachers and the students alike, the tight course schedule which keeps the students on their toes all the time and above all a very healthy environment in the campuses that contributes to the development of the overall personality of the students.
As for the faculty members, only the highly qualified and experienced ones make it to the various departments. The recruitment policy allows even very young persons to be selected for the professor’s post if they meet the exacting standards. The candidates do not have to wait until vacancies arise in each department. The faculty members frame the contents of the courses. And there is no interference from any board of education.
As for the students, they can also opt for any course(s) offered in any other department that they feel can enable them to compete in the job market as long as they do not overshoot the total ‘credits’ prescribed for the semester.
IITs, however, are not all about academics. At the campuses, Cupid strikes frequently. Instances of students marrying their classmates are galore!
(The writer is a former professor of Geology, IIT Bombay)
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