NEWS:Panel recommendation for a single entrance examination for all engineering institutions

A panel recommendation for a
single entrance examination for
all engineering institutions has
thrust upon human resource
development minister Kapil Sibal
a key test— picking between his
convictions and likely pressures
from states and the Indian
Institutes of Technology (IIT).
Science secretary T R
amasami, head of a panel set up
by Sibal to pencil a blueprint to
replace India’s myriad
engineering exams with a single
test, on Thursday proposed three
possible mechanisms to
implement the plan, government
sources confirmed.
But Ramasami’s proposals -
which are not final and will be
worked on by the science
secretary further— have set the
stage for Sibal to try and
convince state governments and
elite institutions like the IITs to
give up their entrance
examinations, sources said.
“It will not be easy. In Fact, this
will be very, very difficult. But if
he succeeds, it will be historic,” a
senior official said.
Unlike a proposal by an earlier
panel set up by Sibal under IIT
Kharagpur director Damodar
Acharya, the new plan involves a
single national aptitude test.
The Acharya panel had
suggested that institutions like
the IITs be allowed to hold an
add-on test with subject specific
questions on Physics, Chemistry
and Math. Seven IITs objected to
the HRD minister’s proposal for a
single test — with no exceptions
— to reduce the burden on
students who at present have to
appear for multiple admission
tests.
Even the Acharya panel’s report
was rubbished by faculty forums
at the IITs. The plan to dump the
add-on test is likely to spur
greater protests from within the
IIT community, the sources said.
Source:Hindustan times