Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s enthusiasm for rolling out reforms in education shows no sign of ebbing. Days after liberating the Indian Institutes of Management from government curbs on setting up campuses abroad, he has now weighed in with suggestions on admission criteria at the Indian Institutes of Technology. On Monday, he recommended that the IITs raise the cut-off for students to clear the Joint Entrance Examination. The present minimum of 60 per cent in Board examinations, he said, disincentivises IIT aspirants from taking the school-leaving board examinations with enough seriousness. Besides, he argues, that reconfiguring the admission requirements would limit the sprawl of coaching centres.

The objectives the minister lists are unexceptionable, but is realising them that easy? There is already considerable disquiet that raising the cut-off to 80 per cent would undermine the inclusiveness of the current arrangement. Anand Kumar, a Patna-based mathematician who has been extensively profiled for his success in mentoring students from rural and small-town schools for the JEE, is of this view. He points out that of his 30 successful candidates for the IITs in 2009, only three managed more than 80 per cent in their Class XII examinations. Votaries of Sibal’s suggestions, and there are many, would see this as proof of his argument, that serious aspirants do not take the boards seriously. Yet these numbers equally support the contrary view, that the JEE is providing a way of levelling the field. That it is giving the largest possible number of students a chance to qualify, on merit for a quality education. A thesis is often put forth that institutions of higher learning with a reputation for producing exceptional talent do so by perfecting admission criteria that pluck out the most promising candidates. This is perhaps why more and more engineering colleges want to get on to the JEE platform.

... contd.