The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Government of India, has announced the decision to merge IIT
Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) with the All India Engineering Entrance
Examination (AIEEE) from 2013. The 'one nation, one test' proposal was a unanimous decision of the IIT
Council taken in accordance with the IIT Act passed by the Indian
Parliament, nearly six decades ago. Some IIT Senates and the Alumni Groups are opposing it. The opposition is unjustified and smacks of elitism.
It is not understood how it will result in the reduction of standard of the entrance examination, when the test papers are to be set by the IIT faculty, as done in current IIT-JEE. The consideration for 50% marks obtained in the Board Examination should not bother IITians as major difference will come from the marks obtained in the Advanced Paper (set by IIT faculty) and the results are declared in terms of percentile score.
The One Nation One Test policy will have the following long-term beneficial impacts
(a) It will lead to the improvement in the standard of syllabi and the teaching in higher secondary schools, across the country.
(b) The burden on the students of appearing for multiple tests and the administrative expenses will be reduced.
The HRD Minister must be congratulated for pursuing the progressive policy.
Prof. Chaitanya was walking briskly on the lawn with his daughter. At the age of 52 he maintained good health. After going home he would do Yoga and Pranayam and his daughter always joined him.
At home he found his wife, Priya, was waiting for him.
There was a phone call from some Prof. Jairam. He will ring again. She said.
Chaitanya knew Prof. Jairam was contesting for the post of Dean in the University. This time Prof. Chaitanya was a contestant for the Board of Studies (BOS) elections for civil engineering.
Twenty five years back, after obtaining Doctoral degree form the University of Leeds, he returned home and joined the University. All these years, he taught almost all core subjects, but the Theory of Structures was his favorite. He also had good number of publications in the reputed international journals published by Elsevier, American Concrete institute (ACI) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). In the University, he had made significant contributions developing the structure and syllabi of the civil engineering subjects.
While he was going through the newspaper headlines, telephone rang. He lifted. Prof. Jairam was on the other side.
How are you prof ! I heard you are contesting for the BOS, he asked. Yes I am, said Prof. Chaitanya.
You should support me. You know, I have support from the Rashtriya Jatiwadi Party. Our College Chairman has also promised financial support, Prof. Jairam was obviously elated.
Prof. Chaitanya could not understand the connection between the political parties and the university elections. The elections used to be conducted every five years. Since past few elections, he saw the role of political parties and their affiliations was growing. Money also played role in the underhand dealings, whispered in the University circles. Prof. Jairam was an active member of the political party and was hardly seen in the academic circles. Prof. Jairam obtained Ph. D. from a Deemed University. Prof. Chaitanya still remembered Prof. Jairam’s open defense of the Ph. D. thesis. While he made the presentation, Prof. Chaitnaya felt that he had seen similar work published in the ACI Journal. In fact, he actually checked it in the library and found that was true. He was also present for the convocation. There was not a single academician on the dais, except the poor (!) Vice Chancellor and the Dean. It was all occupied by the ruling party members at the Centre and the State.
Prof. Chaitanya always felt that there should be no elections for the University statutory bodies. Instead, eminent persons from within the University, industry, public and private organisations should be selected on these bodies.
It was a Sunday. Prof. Chaitanya contacted all the voters personally and over phone. There was another contestant aspiring for the post of Chairman BOS, Prof. Anand, fielded by Prof. Jairam, his colleague from the Deemed University. Monday was the election day and the votes counting was scheduled on Tuesday.
Tuesday evening Prof. Chaitanya returned home from the Votes Counting Centre. Priya didn’t ask him the result, it was written in his face. He had lost.
In a country where politics occupies the academic stage, quality of education remains a far cry.
In ancient India, under the gurukul system of education, the pupils used to reside at the teacher’s (guru) place (ashram). Before that the guru used to formally accept a pupil as his disciple (shishya) and after that the education was offered free of cost. In most cases, the gurukuls were supported by the ruling king. At the end of the term and after successful completion of the learning, the pupil would ask the guru, what he would offer him as a gurudakshina (fees). Here is a story of a modern guru who was offered a car as gurudakshina by his students.
Pratap Sir was walking to his college with a mixed feeling of happiness and sorrow. He was happy because he was to retire today after 35 years of his service as a teacher. Throughout his career he was known as an honest and upright teacher. Somewhere deep in the heart he also felt sorrow because he would miss all colleagues and especially the students. He reached the college dot at 0955 h. The send-off function started at 1000 h. And lo ! there was a big surprise. His students offered him a brand new car as a parting gift. They looked so happy. All of them had contributed towards the purchase. Pratap Sir was also happy to note the gratuitousness of the students. He didn’t know driving. After the finale, one of the students drove him home in the car. The car was shining, parked in front of his house.
Sushma, his wife greeted him as soon as he stepped out of the car. Neighbors came one by one and congratulated. His only daughter, Aditi, an engineer, worked in a private company. She came home in the evening. As usual she smiled at baba (father) and asked whose car was that. Pratap told the story. She didn’t seem to be happy. It was quite a surprise for him.
In the evening, he opened the topic on the dining table. He asked Aditi, how did she like the car. Baba you shouldn’t have accepted it, said Aditi forthrightly. We are living in the age when the integrity of the educational institutions and the teachers is in doubt. The other day, did you not read the news of one educational institute assisting the students in copying during the examination. And last year? You remember, some parents took morcha (procession) to your college because their wards were not allowed to copy. Accepting this gift you gave a chance to your detractors doubt your integrity. How will you respond, if someone accuses you accepted the car from the students as a gratification for allowing them to do some illegal work?
The seriousness of the issue was effectively brought home by his daughter. Pratap Sir felt befallen. He couldn’t sleep whole night. In the morning, when he sat in the bed and prayed, something dawned on him. The gloom vanished.
After finishing the morning chores, he rang to one of his students to come home. He asked the student to drive the car to the nearby anathashram (orphan house). He gifted the car to the ashram. His heart was filled with satisfaction and pride, while walking back home.
The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act was supposed to be a giant leap towards universalization of education in India. However, it has acquired the dubious distinction of being the only fundamental right that exists just on paper.
More than seven years after the Constitution was amended in 2002 to make free and compulsory education to children in the age group of 6-14 a fundamental right and over four months after the historic Right to Education Bill was passed in Parliament, in August 2009, both the legislations are yet to be notified. Without notification, which is a mandatory step, the right to free and compulsory education remains just a goal.
The school dropouts are maximum in the age group of 6-14 years. The primary reason is economic. The implementation of the bill will help parents who are unable to educate their wards for economic reasons. It will also put a check on the child labor. The amended version of the Bill, makes special provision for the physically or mentally challenged children.
