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Union HRD Minster Kapil Sibal said on Monday that Class 12 exam marks should be given more weightage while considering admissions to undergraduate courses in the Indian Institutes of Technology.
He emphasised that IIT admission procedures "should give more weightage to Class 12 exam marks", adding that the cut-off should be increased. Currently the cut off for appearing in IIT-JEE exam is 60%.
Sibal, while addressing the IIT council meeting in New Delhi, mentioned that a new system should be introduce where only those students who have a high Class XII score will be able to appear for the entrance exams to professional courses. He also added that the cut-off eligibility for appearing for these entrance exams should be 80-85 percent.
IIT-Delhi professor M. Balakrishnan told: "This proposal has been mooted for almost a year now. There is talk in the ministry and among IITs to take such a decision soon."
At the IIT Council meeting, the minister said he also wanted to get rid of professional coaching for medical and engineering exams.
"All proposed changes would be implemented by 2011," a senior ministry official said.
But coaching centres have mentioned that avoiding coaching centres or increasing more weightage for the Class 12 exam marks was not the solution to the problem.
"The coaching centres will not be affected if the entrance exams focus on Class 12 marks. Because we as an industry cater to what inputs are required, so we would train for the IIT-JEE and the board exams. Coaching centres exist because of the existing lacuna at schools. The thrust should be on raising the standard of board exams and to focus on application rather than rote learning," Gautam Puri, vice-chairman of Career Launcher, told.
Sibal has also asked for setting up a five-member committee to make the IITs more competitive. Another committee has been constituted to look into the IIT curriculum.
