The JEE Dilemma _ InsIghT, IIT Bombay

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The JEE Dilemma -October 15, 2011

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Reporters: Abhi Suri, Akshay Soni, Alankar Jain, Manu Sahay, Neha Innanje

With inputs from Mukul Gupta and Vivek Upadhyay

September 14, 2011, the day the

government announced the abolition of the

JEE and AIEEE while at the same time

announcing a nationwide common exam for

all engineering colleges. A day of shock, as

the JEE, a robust contextual exam that

checks the aptitude of a student in core

science subjects and their ability to apply

concepts in an application oriented sphere,

was replaced by a system that could place a

much greater emphasis on aptitude over

raw intelligence, and factored in the widely perceived ‘lottery’ of the board examinations.

Most students were feeling hard done, but some welcomed the new changes, stating that

they were long overdue. To study the shortcomings of engineering entrance

examinations, the “Acharya Committee” was established which included representatives

from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Science and

Technology and National Informatics Center, Chairman and the members of the IIT

Council, Directors and Experts from ISI, Directors of all IITs and various other

distinguished personalities. As per the findings of this committee (available here:

), after a

comprehensive study and opinion polls, the following reformatory proposals were made:

Abolition of JEE, AIEEE and other exams and reduction in the number of

examinations to one.

1.

Testing knowledge intensity, alignment with and greater weightage to the class 12th

boards.

2.

Reduction of pressure on students and dependency on coaching.3.

Emphasis on aptitude.4.

Transparency in processes.5.

Removal of negative marking.6.

Online processes, Multiple centers, better scheduling.7.

Some concerns were expressed about the process integrity and fairness of testing

methodology. So, a normalization methodology across school boards was proposed

wherein the committee accessed relevant data over the past few years to examine-

a)stability of scores of the same school board over time and b) potentials for

normalization of scores across various boards. ISI was enrolled to carry out statistical

studies for normalization of the board scores. They selected 4 boards for pilot testing-

CBSE, ICSE, TN and WB boards, and evaluated the stability of scores over time for the

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The JEE Dilemma : InsIghT, IIT Bombay http://www.insightiitb.org/2011/the-jee-dilemma/

1 of 7 11/6/2011 8:28 AM

same board. They also examined the potential for mapping the profiles of several boards

onto one selected board through monotone transformations. The general conclusions

were that aggregate percentile scores are relatively stable over the periods analysed, and

it was possible to normalize percentile ranks across boards.

This radical proposal has been met with varied responses, with most criticising it and

some vouching for it. Though largely short-sighted, the new system still has some merits.

We examine the arguments held by the general populace in favour of, and against the

new system.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THE NEW SYSTEM1. The current system of elimination requires such rigorous preparation that JEE

becomes the be-all-end-all, and students, on clearing JEE suffer from a ‘burnout’ and

largely ignore academics. This process makes the entrance exam the education and

demeans all that follows

2. To correct the flaws in the existing system which is more biased towards rote-learning;

a person who is enthusiastic to devise his own experiments to learn science is at an

inherent disadvantage as compared to a person who is spending hours slogging over

formulae, which

defeats the purpose of engineering

3. To combat the menace of coaching centers, which reduce, and in several places,

completely negate the importance of the school, particularly in classes 11th and 12th

4. The bunch of selected individuals, though exceptional in certain spheres of life, are

wanting in other spheres (for eg: verbal and written communication skills)

5. Students must be relieved of the pressure of multiple JEEs

6. Multi-parametric grading system to be introduced as opposed to a single test model,

which would ensure that a wider strata of people having more holistic personalities enter

IIT as opposed to the archetypal IITian

7. The new system would be testing knowledge intensity, the alignment to the 12th class

syllabus would promote overall personality development

8. The new system places increased emphasis on aptitude over “raw intelligence”. There

is no need for exceptional merit to learn a skill as simple as engineering.

9. The modern student, after a gruelling 2-3 years preparing for JEE is generally

disinterested in studying or pursuing research, and spends his time networking or

preparing for IIM’s/IAS, which defeats the motto of the IITs- to make us leaders in the

field of science and technology

10. As it is an online process, better scheduling can be done

11. A statistical model for normalization of scores over multiple years and multiple boards

has been developed in accordance with the ISI to ensure no discrepancies take place

across various boards

12. A greater scope for promoting the inherent curiosity amongst students by assigning

the due importance to schools

ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE NEW SYSTEM

1. Scrapping of JEE might lead to a downfall in the quality of students in IITs, thereby

further diluting the already diluted brand value (post introduction of new IITs in obscure

places to promote political agenda)

2. Single entrance test for all engineering colleges will eventually lead to a considerably

higher stress among candidates, instead of reducing it as it would virtually eliminate any

chances of recovery from a ‘bad day at work’

3. The notion of “Raw intelligence test” defies the theory of contextual examination

framework. Raw Intelligence test is impotent in capturing the right engineering bent of

mind

4. It’s nothing more than the senseless abolition of a proven and successful system in

favour of a radical and untested one which is severely short-sighted


2 of 7 11/6/2011 8:28 AM

5. They talk about keeping 12th board exam weight-age which obviously has some value

associated with it but at the same time carries a burgeoning series of flaws with it. The

process of normalization has never been robust

Board exams are highly unreliable. The checking is abysmal, and there is absolutely

no accountability. It’s akin to replacing one evil, at least whose character we know, with

another one whose nature we can’t even accurately predict

Single entrance test might lead to a psychological trauma for those who already dread

the complexity of JEE

8. Coaching industry will somehow adjust its offerings according to the changed pattern.

So, this new system is not doing anything to change their hold

9. Focus should be on how to improve schools at the grass-root levels rather than playing

around with the entire system to merely promote ‘schooling’.

10. Chances of corruption would increase due to a possibility of political interference at

multiple levels

11. The feeling of disparity might emerge among candidates because of very low

reliability of the soundness of normalization scheme

12. JEE is singularly responsible for accomplishing the brand image of India and the

system which has been put into place to conduct the JEE exam should not be disturbed

Prof Sohoni’s ViewpointQuite understandably, there is a lot of strong emotion amongst students regarding this

issue. So, to take an un-biased view, and to include the invaluable inputs of our

professors, InsIghT contacted Prof. Milind Sohoni, department of Computer Science and

Engineering. His point of view is as follows:

1. Students are dis-satisfied just because they don’t want this brand name to dilute. It

just gives the elite class a sense of security

2. Pointing out the lacuna in JEE he made the following remarks:

(a) JEE promotes a paradoxical situation where engaging in amateur engineering (say,

building a theodolite) actually reduces the chances of passing JEE because of the `wasted

time’ in doing so. According to him, this system has been unable to produce hard working

undergraduates contributing to the R&D scenario, rather, it has created a student body

which has put in a lot of effort to get in, and sees very little additional utility in studying

any further. In fact, students spend most of their time in managing various programmes,

building contacts and networking

(b) Large-scale student disinterest in academics and their preoccupation with

placements, IIMs, IAS, etc. is the trend in IIT’s now

(c) Our UG students never bought the international agenda. The easy warm-body job is

the primary reason why our current student joins IIT

(d) It is in fact, the need for exceptional `merit’ to be taught a skill so simple as

engineering, has become a hallmark of the elitism in our society

3. Commending the acceptance rate in Cornell Engineering (1-in-2), Illinois (1-in-3),

Michigan(1-in-4), Harvard (1-in-13), he proposes the following solution:

(a) Keep the JEE pattern as it is. Allot 50-60% weightage to JEE and assign the rest

randomly (read more on this here: ). This will bring a

more diversified lot to the IIT’s. JEE’s weight-age is just to ensure that some total duffer

doesn’t enter into the system. This will totally curb the “Coaching Industry”.

(b) Eventually, the initial Screening should be followed by a subjective test based on

writing an essay (as done by most of US universities) to judge a candidate’s motivation &

background. According to him subjectivity is very important for understanding the fitness

of a candidate for admission to IIT’s. However, this would need an admittance rate of

1-in-7, which is unimplementable today.

4. As far as stress point is concerned it is totally irrelevant if we try to keep the basic

procedure right

5. He considers the revamped system better than the existing one though he points out


3 of 7 11/6/2011 8:28 AM

that this system is also not the one we actually need

He also proposes a higher flexibility in ‘branch changes’ or late selection of branch.

For greater details into Prof. Sohoni’s viewpoint (including all arguments),

http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~sohoni/RD.pdf

IITANS.ORG’s viewpoint

IITANS.ORG is a group of IIT Alumini who are spearheading the camp of protest against

the government’s decision to scrap JEE. This group was formed around 4 to 5 months

back, though their activities gained momentum after September 14th, when the

government announced the abolition of JEE.The founders of this group had written a

petition to government in around October 2010, highlighting them the aim and

significance of JEE and asking them not to consider scrapping this prestigious

examination.

One of the founders Mr Parvin Baishyikar says that “The reasons the government is

giving for abolishing JEE and their actions are not at all synchronous. They say they

want to bridge the gap between rural and urban India by including marks of 12th boards.

The solution is to improve the education system in rural India, not to scrap JEE. Even

today, in many towns of India, there are insufficient and untrained teachers to teach

them for board exams alone, and now they are raising the same bar to prepare those

students for JEE. They say they want to reduce the influence of coaching. This new

method will, in fact, promote coaching even more. Many coaching institutes have already

come up with taglines like ‘inculcating with the new JEE pattern’. Also, making 50 lakh

students give a single exam brings an infinite factor of luck into play.”

Mr. Baishkiyar is confounded at the logic proposed. He wonders “Can the government tell

me how will this system get better engineers than those already present? There are

students in IIT, who, in spite of clearing JEE drop out of college because of being unable

to cope with the academics, so how do they suggest that other students will do well here?

The basic crux of engineering lies in mathematical and physical concepts, which are

tested through JEE. Students clearing JEE are not directly taught engineering as soon as

they come to IIT, but, in fact, in their first year they are raised to a further higher level of

advanced mathematics useful for engineering applications, and this requires certain

ingenuity. And if students are taken without testing this skill, how will they cope with

advanced engineering?”

Coming to the point of undergrads not pursuing engineering, he argues “ I agree not all

UG’s of IITs pursue engineering, but of those who do, how many non-IITians, consider

the PGs of IIT for that matter, match them in that? For advanced engineering you require

the skills what a student clearing JEE possess. JEE is designed that way. If the problem

is that UG’s are not pursuing engineering, then look into that with another angle.

Scrapping JEE is not the solution, as students entering this place by clearing this very

exam, are most capable of doing things unimagined of and taking this country to where it

was dreamed IITians will take when IIT was formed. Ruining this dream based on dirty

politics and illogical reasons is not applicable, and we shall fight to retain its value. IIT is

not merely an institute for us, it is a glimpse of hope for this developing India, and if

required we all IITians will have to protest against this.”

IITANS.ORG has called for an all India protest from students of all the engineering

colleges, as this decision affects them equally as well. They have called for a mass boycott

of classes by all students of IITs, and according to their page on facebook, over 2000

students already have RSVPed for the event. They are also planning a letter to be written

by each IIT, signed by all the students, and submitted to director of respective IITs, and

from there forwarded to government of India. They say they shall continue to protest

until government hears them. IITians have given an overwhelming response to them, and

gradually all IITs are coming together for this common purpose. How effective they


4 of 7 11/6/2011 8:28 AM

become in forcing the government to re-look at it’s hare-brained scheme remains to be

Do you agree with these views? Do you have any thoughts on the same? Comments are

most welcome!

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8 comments

Priyank Bariar · Physics Teacher at FIITJEE ltd

I teach physics at a coaching institute in indore. I oppose what the hrd ministry andd iit council is

trying to do with iitjee. My fundamental objection is that people are just blaming coaching industry

for sending rote learned robots to iits! The question that begs to be answeredis that can basic

science be learned? By rote? as a physics student and teacher I know that you cannot learn physics

or maths you understand the beautiful logic of the subject.to understand you need to be atapasvi.

Reply · · Like · Follow Post · October 15 at 11:46pm3

Ashish Rathi · · Mumbai, Maharashtra

Some things that I feel -

1. I don't see the stress levels coming down in this pattern as the competition remains the same.

2. I am also against this coaching business but with our education system, you can't complain about

it.

3. The whole objective of graduation is to give an introduction to what engineering is. If people are

not pursuing it after graduation, maybe the fault is not in the students, maybe the field itself is not

attractive enough. Maybe, we should work towards attracting students to research, put in more

money in IIT's for research, upgrade the research level in IIT, make it top notch. A harsh fact but a

true one - The research level in IIT sucks. As of now, students are not interested in research

because of the environment within IIT, and it's not going to change by controlling the students that

get in. Very few undergraduate student (of IIT) with a wish to do research would stay in IIT for so.

4. I think the government has made it clear that they want students who will pursue engineering

afterwards and not go into any other fields once they are out of IIT. I can see this attitude in

professors in IIT's and it is not surprising that they let such a thing happen.

JEE does lack in some areas, I don't know whether this new system can combat these flaws, but the

reasons for which it has been introduced are not strong enough to bring about such a big change

and play with students career.

Reply · · Like · Follow Post · October 16 at 2:05pm

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2

Mahesh Tikone · Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

One thing that I want to add is, why are they claiming that coaching industry will be curbed by this

decision? They'll start minting money in new business, that being Board Exams coaching and new

aptitude test coaching, as it was happening in Maharashtra few years back when engineering

admissions to state colleges were purely based on 12th marks. Or do they want to kill some specific

coaching hubs?

Other point these people keep cribbing about is lack of R&D and research oriented minds in UG

students.They want to get placed in consults and finance sectors. But it is not IIT specific trend and

nowadays due to amount of money involved in such jobs many top students from most of the

prestigious "ENGINEERING SCHOOLS" are accepting offers in such sectors. If It's not IIT specific

problem then how can revamping entrance exam and accepting different set of student will help

change this general trend of career choice?

Reply · Like · Follow Post · October 17 at 7:30pm

Vashist Avadhanula · · Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

The new system is not good, but a change in this direction is desired. The burn out due to JEE is a

serious concern which should be handled well. But I don't think that is not the reason why the govt

opted for a change in the pattern.


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Ashlesh Sonje · · Mumbai, Maharashtra

The first four arguments 'in favour of the new system' are more like arguments 'against the existing

system'. I really doubt the new version will address these issues.

Reply · Like · Follow Post · October 16 at 12:58am

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Kunal Samel

reducing the number of entrance exams is necessary and the common entrance exam should be of

the level of JEE. but people may not accept that.

Reply · Like · Follow Post · October 16 at 11:17am

Abhishek Yadav · Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

very sad...



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The JEE Dilemma _ InsIghT, IIT Bombay

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