The controversy over the government’s “one-nation-one-test” proposal escalated Sunday with the faculties of all IITs lashing out at IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya for his support to the government’s move.
The All-India IIT Faculty Federation said it was “shocked to learn that the director, IIT Kharagpur, has made public statements in contradiction to resolutions made by the senate of IIT Kharagpur”. Mr Acharya said earlier the institution did not have any objection to the Centre’s move to conduct a common entrance exam for central engineering institutions.
The IIT Kharagpur senate rejected the Centre’s proposal Sunday, and extended support to IIT Kanpur, which has opposed the national entrance test. The IIT Kharagpur faculty also issued a statement rejecting the Centre’s move for a common entrance test for IITs, NITs and IIITs.
The federation noted the “IIT Kharagpur senate had said till 2014, no change should be made and the status quo maintained”.
It said: “The trust that IIT-JEE has earned over the last five decades is due to the continuous evolution of processes and unflinching devotion of the faculty and staff of IITs... Any test leading to ranking in IIT admissions must be wholly owned by the IITs.”
The federation’s move came after the Kharagpur and Guwahati IIT directors opposed the IIT Kanpur senate’s decision to conduct its own entrance exam from next year.