The High Court stay on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) has raised the hopes among IIT aspirants and their parents who are fighting against what they feel “changes thrust on them” leading to injustice and irrationality in fixing the eligibility criteria.
The changes in entrance exam mode announced by the Council of IITs to be implemented from the ensuing test in 2013 lack rationality and deny natural justice to students, feel the parents, who have recently filed a writ petition in the A.P. High Court. The bone of contention is the new eligibility criteria fixed for appearing the second phase of IIT exam (IIT Advanced).
As per the new norm, aspirants have to first figure in the top 1.50 lakh candidates of those taking IIT Main (first level) to quality for IIT Main. However, such candidates also have to be in the top 20 percentile of the respective boards to be eligible for admission. “The criteria is irrational and also lacks clarity,” says Ravi Kiran, a parent.
Parents feel the Joint Admission Board (JAB) should adopt the percentage system rather than percentile as in the former students will be aware of their target. “Since success in percentile is relative they are not sure of marks they need to score to be eligible. How can the JAB keep aspirants in such a dilemma even before they attempt the exam,” is their question.
“Students have every right to know the cut-off mark before the exam. The cut-off is just an eligibility criteria and not the final performance on which seats are given,” reminds Achyuta Rao, another parent. The new norms are likely to create a quota system for each state weeding out the hardworking students from southern states, more so Andhra Pradesh.
If ‘top 20 percentile’ candidates are only considered, students from the State will lose out despite scoring much higher marks than their peers in other states where the competition may be less. For example, a student securing 15,000 rank in JEE Advanced but is within the 20 percentile of the successful candidates in Haryana Board would secure a rank while a student who secures a rank of 2,500 but not within the 20 percentile of the successful candidates in Intermediate here would be deprived a seat. “This is nothing but discrimination,” argue parents.
COBSE statistics
Parents reveal the figures released by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) that has been entrusted with the responsibility of normalisation of marks. As per COBSE statistics, in 10 out of 29 Boards, students scoring less than 60 per cent marks get eligibility for IIT Advance while in states like Andhra Pradesh they need to score more than 87 per cent. These figures were based on total appeared candidates while IIT notification says top 20 percentile of successful candidates will be considered. So, State students may need to score more than 92 per cent to get eligibility.
Another concern is lack of clarity on whether only second year marks are considered to calculate the top 20 percentile or both first and second years. The Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) calculates the final percentage with first and second year marks while in many boards, only second year marks are considered. Students are left confused on this account even as they prepare for exams. “There is no reply from the IIT Council despite repeated reminders for clarification,” says Mr. Ravi Kiran.
The BIE officials are unaware of this issue.
