IIT heads echo Murthy on dipping quality of students

Updated on: Monday, October 10, 2011

The gates that lead to an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are narrow. One needs to elbow out at least 400 others to get beyond the entry point. It is this mad dash that stokes the coaching industry. This year, of the 13,195 who qualified to join the IITs, two-thirds said they took professional help to prepare for the entrance test or the JEE. What IT idol Narayana Murthy said about the poor quality of students joining IITs is echoed by the institutes’ heads. In fact, some believe the number of students who get coached and join is much more.

IIT-Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi says most students come with a hangover of long years of coaching. “This is an elimination test and there is a limit to what an instrument like an entrance exam can do. Taking school scores into consideration should allow us to get well-rounded students.”

IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Baru points out that the mad dash forces aspirants to start preparing early on. “By the time they join the IIT system they are mentally fatigued. Many are not even interested in engineering. They want to sell soap, not become mechanical/chemical engineers.” His observation is substantiated by data that shows over 50% graduates join managerial positions in consultancy firms, FMCG companies and finance sector, all of which pay big bucks.

The difficulty level of the JEE-2011 question papers has also fallen substantially. The setters were asked to frame questions in such a way that at least 30% of the questions could be attempted with good preparation for the board examinations.

IIT heads echo Murthy on dipping quality of students

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