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The major concerns about the entrance examinations for admissions to engineering colleges are multiplicity of tests (leading to stress?), a flourishing coaching industry which is not affordable for the poor, and the complete ignorance of school by students. But unfortunately, the new format, introduced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is aimed at solving none of them.
First of all, I would like to ask our Minister which survey or report suggests that a multiplicity of examinations causes more stress.
Till now, for seeking admission to a Centrally-funded government institution, a student has two opportunities � IIT-JEE and AIEEE. One of my friends failed her IIT-JEE examination (in 2009), could not make it to an IIT, but got a three- digit rank in AIEEE (among 12 lakh students) and a two-digit rank in DCE (for the Delhi College of Engineering). Did multiplicity reduce or increase her stress? Had there been just one examination, her career would have been doomed.
The new format will combine the IIT-JEE and the AIEEE, and hence admissions to all Central government-funded institutions (the IITs, the NITs, the IIITs) will take place through this new examination, which means a student has got just one opportunity to perform, leading to more stress.
But what about private colleges? The new format says the entrance examinations for private colleges like BITS, VIT, Manipal , Symbiosis, etc., would continue.
The private colleges charge not less than Rs 1,000 for their entrance test, a huge source of income for them. But the new format has done nothing about it. It is clear that the government is selling the country a myth of "one nation one test."