The eligibility criteria of 60 per cent marks in Class XII for appearing in IIT Joint Entrance Examination will be raised from next year to make students pay more attention to the board exam.
In a significant move to check the growth of coaching centres, which are thriving on imparting coaching to students for IIT-JEE, the government today decided to change the criteria, so that students’ attention will be more focused on the board exam at Class XII.
“The present criteria is that students need to secure 60 per cent at Class XII for appearing in IIT-JEE. This is not acceptable. The minimum marks required for IIT-JEE could be raised up to 80 to 85 per cent,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the meeting of the IIT Council, the apex decision making body for the elite institutes, here.
He said a three-member committee has been set up to look into the curriculum and the IIT-JEE system and submit its report within three months, suggesting required changes.
The committee comprise Science and Technology Secretary T Ramasamy, Department of Biotechnology Secretary M K Bhan and CSIR Director General Sameer Brhmachari.
“The coaching centres are giving training for the IIT entrance. As a result, the students are not studying seriously for Class XII exam and are giving more attention to the entrance exam. We want to get rid of the coaching centres by giving more weightage to the board exam,” Mr. Sibal said.
