Save the IITs
The Indian Institutes of Technology are the jewels of India’s education sector. They have long been centres of excellence, turning out bright engineers who have found recognition and fame the world over. But when N.R. Narayana Murthy says the sheen of these institutes is fading, it’s time to take it seriously. The founder of India’s most respected IT firm is himself an IIT alumnus and he strongly feels that the quality of students entering the institutes, and presumably graduating from there too, is very poor.
The selection criteria for entrants are based on competitive examinations and many coaching classes around the country have sprung up to teach ways to ace these tests. The time may have come to introduce a multi-layered selection process that goes beyond just the examination results, which tend to favour those with sharp memory skills and little else in their favour. As it is the Indian education system, at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, is geared towards rote learning rather than imaginative cognitive development. Specialised institutes of higher learning like the IITs must now restructure their intake process to get better quality students.
Yet, any change will have to be calibrated. Mere rejection of the existing joint entrance examination system would be a mistake. The IITs are still among the toughest institutions to get into and those who make it are not all mediocre. The trick would be to come up with a system that is more in tune with the needs of today’s globalised economy. Today’s graduate cannot just be a problem solver who can tackle exams with ease; s/he has to be a much more rounded personality.
Post new comment