With IIT-Delhi Senate scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss its response to the common entrance test human resource development minister Kapil Sibal reiterated that the exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) would be implemented from next year.
In an interview,Sibal referred to the IIT system and said,"The excellence of the system is the quality of the system.I also give great credit to the faculty.Its the quality of the students... because best students come to the IITs and the best students will still come.So there is not dilution of the quality.But there are certain ills in the present system that needs to be addressed.The IITs should have come out with solutions in these 40 years.They can't claim whatever they are doing,there is nothing better than that."
Sibals insistence,however,seems to be contrary to the assurance offered by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a meeting with IIT faculty recently that differences will be sorted out through a dialogue and the autonomy of the tech schools will not be eroded.
IIT-Kanpur had recently decided to conduct its own entrance test,terming as "academically and methodically unsound" the May 28 decision of the IIT Council to hold the common entrance test.This makes the meeting of the IITDelhi Senate significant.If IIT-Delhi chooses to back Kanpur faculty members,the ministry will have to seriously reconsider at least some aspects of the current formula.
The government is likely to ask the joint admission board of the IITs soon to prepare the modalities for conducting the advanced test under the proposed common entrance test.Sources also said that the Senates of IITBombay,IIT-Madras and IITKharagpur held internal meetings about the proposed exam and possible alternatives in the two-tier test.
When asked if he was reconsidering his decision to hold the test from 2013 onwards,Sibal said,"This is not my decision (on holding the single entrance test).This is a decision of the IIT council which is a statutory authority under the IIT Act.The IITs have by and large accepted this decision.
Sibal said the only opposition was coming from IITKanpur Senate but noted that he was ready to reach out to all to resolve the differences."I will reach out to all of them.I will talk to them.For the first time in the history of this country,I had personal interaction with faculty of all the IIT,"he said.As per the new format for admission to IITs and institutes such as NITs and IIITs,students will sit for a main test and an advance test.