The Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal's retraction from his earlier announcement of raising the cut-off percentage for IIT exams has relieved the IIT entrance coaching fraternity in the city. The minister had earlier announced that the cut-off of class 12 percentage for IIT would be raised to 80 and that only those who secure above 80 per cent in their standard 12 exams could appear for the IIT entrance tests.

"I am happy that the decision to raise the threshold has been cancelled. Setting up the cut-off percentage as high as 80 per cent would have been justified had there been a common board in the country for class 12 exams. But taking into consideration the SSC, CBSE, ICSE and other boards, the platforms of competition are different and thus the decision would have been biased towards the comparatively easy-to-score boards. Further, raising the cut-off percentage would have affected students from rural areas, as the conditions under which they study for class 12 are not always favourable. Whereas for IIT entrance training, they come to cities such as Pune where they get better facilities to study and thus are able to perform well."

Average coaching fees for IIT entrance are in the range of Rs 70,000- 90,000 and are paid by students before starting their standard 11 studies.

Harshad Khuspe, director, Vision Kota, a city-based IIT coaching institute said, "IIT entrance coaching starts during their class 11. Having paid the fees and not being able to reach the increased cut-off percentage would have meant wastage of the fees paid. Taking into consideration the increasing expenses of higher technical education, this would have also discouraged a number of students from even thinking about going for coaching."

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