One exam, One big commotion!

They say that nobody does anything these days that does not curry favor with the benefactor. After our honorable HRD minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal's inglorious daydream of having the JEE abandoned abruptly in the favor of a single entrance examination to the IITs, NITs, and IIITs, ran into rough weather with the senates of 6 out of 7 IITs rejecting the proposal unequivocally, we are now headed for murkier scrapings amongst the IITs themselves. While the rather radical proposal of doing away with the keystone of the IITs has one staunch supporter in the IITG director, IITKgp's director, Damodar Acharya, came out in support of the proposal today against the wishes of the institute's senate. As expected, the IIT faculty association rebuked the director's isolated move strongly. Nothing like a fractured house when dealing with an issue having a bearing on approximately 1.5 million youngsters of this country!

Now Dr. Acharya is a rather interesting person to head the oldest IIT in the system. Normally, you would not associate the post of directorship of the IITs with somebody who is under investigation for shortcomings in running the governing body for techincal education in India. He has been indicted by the CBI for misgivings in approving technical institutes. This, in a country where private engineering colleges have sprouted like mushrooms in a forest, should be a grievous offence in itself. Dr. Acharya also bears the distinguished reputation of resigning in the face of widespread student protests that engulfed the Kgp campus following the death of an undergrad owing to lacking medical facilities. Obviously, nothing came out of the protests and he was back to the job in no time. 

This short description of Dr. Acharya's escapades in the last 6 years is by no means exact or complete. But this should have been reason enough to set the alarm bells ringing in the echelons of the HRD ministry. However, suspecting the surreptitious dreams of its minister, the ministry perhaps kept mum and kept its man on the job. Now Acharya has kicked-off another storm in this end-of-the-JEE debate, one that will most likely shift the focus from the examination to the internal functioning of the IITs. While the IIT act empowers these institutes to be autonomous in deciding upon the criteria of admission, it is all but certain that the directives of the ministry shall be forced upon them (Anybody remembers the overnight establishment of 5 new IITs, some of whom are still to move to their own campus?). Maybe its time to look to the west. Follow the American higher education pattern, where heads of departments and presidents are contractually employed, armed with a missive to raise the profile of their respective institutions. It often helps to have people who have prior experience of governing an institute. This kind of hiring would not only serve as a catalyst for shaking up the sedentary system, but also make the heads accountable for any shortcomings under their authority. 

It is certain that a big change in the entrance methodology is looming. Whether its the one-nation, one-exam proposal, or the model proposal by IITK to have its own entrance exam, students are facing an uncertain time regarding their future prospects, and more importantly, dreams. They could do without infighting!


PS: These videos keep getting better.