Articles from General Knowledge Today

One Nation, One Test Possible Implications (By Nalineesh Chand)

2012-07-03 12:07:43 GKToday

W hether conducting one entrance test for a particular stream is good for a nation or conducting multiple examinations for various degree colleges could be a good option, is doing the rounds after Union Minister for Human Resources Mr. Kapil Sibal recently announced that Government intends to issue notification according to w hich there w ould be just one entrance examination for Engineering from 2013 at all India level. Let us understand the advantages and disadvantages of one all India Level Entrance Examinations (w ith the example of Engineering) before deriving any conclusion on the subject. Government proposes to introduce JEE(Joint Entrance Examination) after 12 th for entering various Engineering Colleges and Technology Institutes from the year 2013, w hich w ould replace the present All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) & IIT-JEE conducted by IITs Apart from this it w ould also do aw ay w ith various Engineering Examinations conducted by various States. A joint merit list w ill be conducted based on the marks obtained in 12 th Standard and JEE Exam (Mains as w ell as Advanced). Let us now enumerate the advantages of Single Entrance Examination for Engineering. Firstly, Ranking w ould be based on All India level on the test, w hich w ould mean anyone obtaining a particular rank, can be very well sure of the college and the stream he or she could secure, since there w ould be no double application to various colleges as currently prevailing. Presently one candidate appearing for IIT-JEE also appears for AIEEE and also fares w ell in State Level Entrance Exam for Engineering, w hich means the candidate is likely to obtain and secure admission in more than one college and later on the cancelled seat might be given to the w aitlisted candidates, this may cause despair to the waitlisted candidate till the seats are allocated to him/her. Secondly, the candidates of 12 th standard already spend lot of time and energy covering their class 12 curriculum and in addition, it is difficult for them to cover the syllabus for different entrance tests, as the curriculum of IIT-JEE is tougher than that of AIEEE & hence variety of study is required for every entrance exam. Thirdly, it w ill also avoid candidates sw itching from one college to other college as merit list of JEE w ill be the only list and the college allotted based on it would be one and the final. Fourthly, It w ill also ensure that the systematic data of admissions would be available online and can be very w ell used by the candidate for securing the admissions based on last year cut-off as there w ould be just one exam, the data w ould be more reliable and useful. Fifthly, one test w ould also save the cost associated w ith conducting number of exams. Finally it w ill remove disparity among Institutes as all the Institutes w ill be accepting the merit based on JEE and hence differentiation betw een IITs and Non- IITs at the entrance level w ould be avoided. Let us now enumerate the Disadvantages of Single Entrance Examination for Engineering. Firstly, One Entrance Test w ould result in compromising in the quality of Entrance Tests, as it is not bound to be tougher (considering the socio-economic background of students of India) and hence there is a greater possibility of us compromising on the Merit of the students, especially at the IITs. Secondly IITs(Indian Institute of Technology) have been the premier Institute of Engineering and Technology for large number of years & have gained the expertise in eliminating and selecting the best candidate for the Prestigious Institute through its entrance. A common test , how much ever tough it may be, may not be able to match to the standards of IITs. Thidly, there is a large possibility of one candidate missing the test due to ill health, accident or any other personal tragedy on the date of exam, hence such a student w ill lose the opportunity of appearing for other tests, w hich w ere possible in multi-entrance scenarios. On the lines of Entrance exams of Engineering, various other fields of Education like Medical, Architecture, Management etc may be thought in the future as "Single Entrance" & the advantages and disadvantages remain the same as mentioned above in case of Engineering. Hence it would be appropriate to conclude that "One Nation One Test" in any field has m ore adv antages for the students than its disadv antages. Howev er we need to appreciate the concerns of Prestigious Institutions (IITs and IIMs) and try and consult with these institutes and dev elop a One Test in such a way that the quality of this test ensures right selection of the candidates.