New Delhi: The Joint Admission Board (JAB), an apex admissions body of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), has decided to continue with the proposed critical changes in the selection and admission procedures for IIT Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE). These changes will be made effective from the upcoming session. Reportedly, Andhra Pradesh High Court (HC) had asked the board to review the decision, as it has been observed that the new selection criterion could be a disadvantage for students of some states.
As per sources, at a meet of JAB, the country's top engineering Institutes (IITs) came up with the decision to make drastic changes in the admission process. According to the proposed changes, only students who manage to come in the top 20 % in their school Boards in class XII will be eligible for admissions. This meeting was called in a hurry after the order passed by the Andhra Pradesh HC, so that the confusion regarding the IIT JEE admissions could be cleared.
According to sources, after the declaration of new admission norms, some students had filed a petition in the HC, appealing that the nature of Board examinations in some states will pose a disadvantage for the aspiring engineering students. The petition further pointed out that, the new eligibility reviews scores of class XII only, however, some states like Andhra Pradesh still calculates aggregate scores of class XI and XII.
The students also argued that the changes were announced by IITs in late 2012, when they had already completed class XI, thus, they were deprived in comparison with the students in boards, which compute only class XII scores. Some petition quoted these changes as unconstitutional. The Andhra Pradesh HC, dismissed their claim, yet, ordered the human resource development (HRD) ministry to a review of the situation.
In response, the HRD ministry has came up with a special provision assuring fair treatment of students of Andhra Pradesh. The report presented by ministry mentioned that, only class XII scores of students will be provided to the IITs, in order to allow them to compute the eligibility of candidates for admissions.
Explaining more about the changes, a senior IIT administrator involved with this year's examination, said that it is a fact that the new admission provisions were announced in 2012, after most students who would sit for the IIT-JEE 2013, had completed their class XI. He further added that whether the changes were announced sooner or later, they will pose a challenge for every student.
Every year, the IITs conduct IIT-JEE to admit over 10,000 students, in around 18 institutes. IIT-JEE is often referred to as one of the toughest entrance examinations in the world. Before the latest changes, students were required to obtain a minimum of 60% marks in their class XII Board examination, to become eligible to apply for admissions into IIT, i.e. if they cleared the entrance test.
