Government to again push for one-test system

IIT faculties will be part of new panel

In a fresh move to launch a single entrance test for engineering aspirants in 2014, the Centre is planning to bring on board faculties of IITs who played spoilsport by demanding an add-on test for entry to their system during finalisation of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) to be conducted in 2013.

As preparations for holding the first JEE for admissions to centrally-funded technical institutions including Indian Institute of Technology in 2013 are in full swing, the Human Resource Development Ministry is in the process of setting up a new committee to give a fresh look at one nation-one-test proposal and suggest measures for its implementation in 2014.“The committee, which is likely to be headed by Prime Minister’s scientific advisor CNR Rao, will comprise faculties of the IITs too,” top sources in the  Human Resource Development Ministry ministry told Deccan Herald.

The  Human Resource Development Ministry ministry had proposed to hold a single entrance examination for admissions to all engineering colleges in the country, following recommendations from a committee headed by T Ramasami. As states’ participation in the proposed test remained unclear, it, later, decided to hold an Indian Science and Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET) for centrally-funded technical institutions only, but kept it open for all the states to adopt the system.

Following demands from the IITs, the ministry later named the test as Joint Entrance Examination which was proposed to be conducted in two parts—Joint Entrance Examination-Main and Joint Entrance Examination-advance.

The proposed test also stipulated for giving weightage to candidates’ class XII board marks.

Soon after the proposal got approval of the Council of the Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), a section of  Indian Institute of Technology faculties started raising objections to the test formats.

Giving in to the demands of the IIT faculties, the IIT council, headed by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, approved that only top 20 percentile holders of the respective school board will be eligible for admission to IITs on the basis of their performance in Joint Entrance Examination-Advance to be designed and conducted by the joint admission board of the premier technical institutions.

IIT faculties accepted the new format for admissions in to their institutions but this defeated the government’s plan to launch a single entrance system in the country.