IIT-JEE panel for 70 pc weightage to Class-XII marks

Updated on: Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Seventy per cent weightage should be given to Class-XII performance of students while selecting them for prestigious IITs, a high level panel has recommended.

The panel comprising directors of IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Madras, IIT-Bombay and IIT-Roorki has suggested that the IIT-JEE will be replaced by a broad-based National Aptitude Test (NAT). Thirty per cent weightage should be given to the NAT, the panel has said.

"The committee has submitted a draft report. It has favoured 70 per cent weightage to class-XII Board performance of students and 30 per cent to NAT," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said. The proposed NAT will shortlist about 40,000 students who will be again called for another add-on test, the panel has
said.

The successful candidates in the add-on test will be eligible for admission to any of the 15 IITs. The proposed NAT will be a comprehensive examination to test the students' raw talent than limiting it to certain specific subjects or objective type questions.

The committee, headed by IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya, has submitted the draft report after holding country-wide consultations. Sibal said the ministry has not accepted the suggestions yet and will take the matter to the IIT Council. "We will take it to IIT Council after which the government will take a decision," the minister said. According to an IIT director, the proposed NAT will have questions from all streams, including Science and Humanities of Class-XII level.

Sibal had set up the committee in February this year to study the existing JEE structure and suggest improvement in it. The weightage on Class XII marks while preparing the cut-off for the admission into these elite institutes will discourage students from going to private coaching institutes.

At present, the IITs are taking students on the basis of cut-off prepared in view of the marks scored by students in IIT Joint Entrance Examination. Consideration of Class XII marks in the cut-off would ensure that meritorious students get into the IIT stream.

IIT-JEE panel for 70 pc weightage to Class-XII marks

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