FRONT PAGE | Wednesday, October 21, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Never said 80% cut-off for IIT-JEE: Sibal
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
A day after triggering a major controversy by expressing his views on increasing the cut-off to “80 to 85 per cent” in Class XII examinations for IIT aspirants, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday took a U-turn on the issue and accused the media of ‘misinterpreting’ his Monday’s remarks.
“Any report which suggests that there is a proposal to allow only those who obtain 80 per cent marks in their Class XII examination to sit for JEE is baseless,” Sibal said on Tuesday.
The proposal to hike the cut-off marks for the IIT entrants invited strong reactions from the main Opposition BJP, the Left, RJD, JD(U) and the LJP while Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar and Mayawati respectively, shot off letters to Sibal terming it as “anti-poor”.
“The Government of India has no role to play. The only decision that has been taken by the IIT Council is that the IITs will submit a report in January 2010 to rationalise JEE. It is entirely their decision to decide on the eligibility criteria. It is they who will consider whether weightage is to be given to the Class XII examination. It is they who will decide whether marks or percentile will be the basis for admission,” Sibal told mediapersons on Tuesday.
The fact, however, remains that after the IIT Council meeting on Monday and in reply to a pointed query on his take on the expected cut-off, Sibal said it could be “80-85 per cent”. Nevertheless, at the same time, he had said it would be a committee of IIT Directors who will decide on the issue.
Sibal had also termed the existing system, in place since 2006, which among others stipulated 60 per cent marks in Class XII board examinations as one of the criteria for being eligible to appear in the IIT-JEE as “not good enough”. Sibal had backed his bid saying it was to check the growth of teaching shops (coaching centres) and to ensure Class XII students paid more attention to their studies instead of the entrance examinations.
Sibal further tried to clear his stance saying the HRD Ministry had no jurisdiction in the matter and it can in no way, either directly or indirectly, decide or make any proposal for a decision.
Sibal’s remarks saw Nitish Kumar writing to him saying such proposals will favour students with elite background and discriminate against students with poor socio-economic status. Any examination system should be inclusive. Any change in the existing examination system will have far-reaching consequences, which is unwarranted, he said. Sibal, however, replied there was no such proposal.
Mayawati said since the number of UP Board students securing 80 per cent and more in Class XII is not much, formulating a restrictive policy will affect their future. Instead, she suggested, the examination system be reformed to enable a student to appear in the entrance exam without coaching.
If JD(U) president Sharad Yadav termed the suggestion as being against the rural areas of the country blocking the way forward for those students who get awareness about such opportunities at a later stage in their studies and demanded it to be retracted immediately, his LJP counterpart Ram Vilas Paswan demanded the Prime Minister’s intervention.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said his party will strongly oppose any move under the garb of reforms to deny poor students from the hinterland and mofussil towns a chance to aspire for the IIT. Prasad alleged the proposal was the HRD Minister’s desire to “hog the limelight”.
And, making known his opposition to Sibal’s suggestion, RJD chief Lalu Prasad in fact termed it as a “conspiracy to deny entry of the students coming from poor and deprived backgrounds into the IIT”.
-- See Edit: Elitism is good — Higher education not for mediocre students
Email | Print | Rate:
|