CHENNAI: The announcement, by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday, that Class XII results would be given substantial weightage in the proposed Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for engineering courses from 2013, came in for much praise from students and academia alike. However, some were of the view that the decision would turn futile unless it helps the system move towards a national standard in school education. The decision to hold such a common test for central institutions was announced in a press meet in New Delhi on Monday. Director of IIT-Madras, Bhaskar Ramamurthy, who attended the meet, told Express over the phone that the new system will provide 50 per cent weightage to Class XII marks for initial short-listing of candidates for the IITs. “We expect such a system to ensure that only students who do very well at the school level and take Class XII seriously make it to premier institutions,” he said. The NITs will give 40 per cent weightage to Class XII Board marks and 30 per cent weightage for performance in JEE-Main and JEE-Advanced, the two parts of the common exam, and a combined merit decided accordingly. State Planning Commission member and former vice-chancellor of the Anna University, E Balagurusamy, said it would help reduce the impact of coaching centres in determining the future of students. “One of the main reasons for Tamil Nadu abolishing engineering entrance was the role played by coaching centres. Poor rural students neither had the means nor the access to such training and found it difficult to compete,” he said.Balagurusamy said the move should pave the way for a national standard in school education. “There is a huge disparity between systems in quality. It has to be bridged. Only two from Tamil Nadu made it to the top 50 this year in IIT and they were from CBSE,” he said.
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