Professor Mishra also strongly condemned the practice of taking tuitions. “IITs need the best student, not the one who made him the best. Tuitions have taken away the joys of childhood from children. It is fine to aim for IIT but one should not let the aim rule one’s creativity,” he said.

He also clarified the notion that the entrance exam is made difficult deliberately so that it becomes the toughest nut to crack. “We focus on assessing the analytical power of a student and the paper is made on the same lines. Since we have to take the cream, almost 5,000 students of the over 3-3.5 lakh who appear every year, there has to be some standards,” maintained Mishra.

He, however, lamented that IITs are still away from becoming a world-class institution like the Cambridge and Oxford. “We should focus on bringing dedicated teachers and also increase the amount of research. Inviting students from other countries will only add to the pool of national talent that we have,” suggested Mishra.