Hyderabad: The JEE reforms introduced by former Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal has turned out to be counterproductive.
Students from the state with more than 90 per cent marks in 10+2 Board exams could not make it to IITs and NITs this year. Academics say this new system will increase stress among students next year.
They say that on the one hand, the HRD ministry and the CBSE talk about replacing marks with grades to reduce stress, and on the other hand they come out with a “flawed normalisation policy” and “top-20 percentile norm” which makes students aim for over 98 per cent marks in 10+2.
“Look at the 10+2 cut-offs prescribed by the IITs this year. From the general category only those students who scored 91.8 per cent in Inter second year exams are eligible for IITs this year even after securing a place in the top-1.5 lakh rankers’ list in JEE (Main) and after bagging top ranks in JEE (Advanced),” says Prof. Venugopal of Osmania University.
Even for reserved categories the cut-offs are much higher. "For OBs, it is 86.7, for SCs 81.5 and for STs 82.4 per cent. Earlier, 60 per cent marks in 10+2 were enough for OCs and 50 per cent for others. How can the Union ministry, IITs and CBSE expect to reduce exam stress among students by prescribing such high cut-offs?" he asks.
Not only this, there is a huge variation in cut-offs for various boards across the country to be eligible for seats in IITs, NITs etc. While AP students who secured 220 marks in JEE (Main) got a rank of 15,000, students from Punjab who scored just 150 marks in JEE (Main) got a rank of 4,500. This is due to huge variation in cut-offs prescribed by CBSE in 10+2 board exams across the country.
Similarly, students from Jammu &Kashmir, who scored 185 marks got a rank of 15,000, while CBSE students who scored 239 marks got a rank of 18,900.
"I was shocked to see my rank at 7,500 in JEE (Main), when I performed well in JEE (Main) by scoring 259 marks and 501 marks in Inter second year exams. On the other hand, my friend scored 71 marks less than me in JEE (Main) but scored just 20 marks more in Inter.
But she got a rank of 2,000. While she can get a college and seat of her choice based on that rank, I have to be satisfied with whatever college and course will be allotted to me despite performing better than her," said G. Shruthi, a student.
Even the top-20 percentile norm in IITs has resulted in many meritorious students losing their seats with IITs enhancing the cut-offs over what was prescribed by the state boards to figure in this list.
"My son Anudeep secured 3700 rank in JEE (Advanced). He was allotted a seat in IIT-Hyderabad. When he went there to pay the fees, he was denied the seat saying that he fell three marks below the cut-off prescribed for top-20 percentile," said K. Pundarikaaksha Rao.
His son's friend also lost the seat because he fell short by four marks. "How many times will a student be filtered to get a seat in IIT? They already stood in the top-1.5 rankers list in JEE (Main). They were later allowed to appear for JEE (Advanced) in which they secured better ranks following which seats were allotted in IITs.
However, at the time of admissions, they were denied seats saying that they fell short by 1-5 marks to figure in top-20 percentile list. Will this not increase mental stress among students? Is this the way, the Centre, the IITs and the CBSE wants to achieve the aim of reducing exam stress among students," Rao asks pertinently.