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An aberration?

The incident has brought a mixed bag of hope and despair, says Manas Dasgupta.

A class in progress at an IIM.

THOUGH UNRUFFLED, the students and the faculty members at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, feel the CAT question paper leak has lowered the prestige of the institution.

Most of them, however, echo what Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIM, Ahmedabad, said: "No one has blamed the IIMs for the leak. Neither the foreign nor the domestic corporate houses has shown any concern over the incident which proves that they still have respect for and confidence in the products of IIMs." But the incident, says a senior faculty member, has proved that the IIM is no different from other academic institutions that are afflicted with the leakage syndrome. Its claim that merit alone counts for admissions has been exposed, he adds. If the leak had gone undetected, it would have meant people with money power gaining entry without the requisite merit.

Cynics have even cast doubts on the credibility of former IIM students. Despite claims of a "foolproof" system by Prof. Dholakia and the Directors of five other IIMs who form the CAT core group, they see some loose ends in the system. "This time it has been caught, but may be it was going on for years and remained unnoticed," says a student.

But the protagonist faculty members disagree. "Buying" a seat in the IIM cannot take a non-meritorious student through the rigours of internal tests, they say. "There is no question, the leakage was an aberration... it will not hurt the image and prestige of the premier institution,'' a faculty member feels.

For the students who appeared in the cancelled CAT on November 23, the incident has brought a mixed bag of hope and despair. Those who did not do well feel it is a godsend to improve their performance. Yet others say it has upset their schedule and preparations for other competitive examinations.

"For CAT, I was concentrating on mathematics. Now I do not know whether to continue with maths for the re-test in February or shift my attention to general knowledge," wonders Anindita Guha, who is preparing for various competitive examinations and claims he had done fairly well in the CAT entrance. For students in the second and third year of graduation, the re-test will come in the way of preparing for the university examinations.

But Sulagna Dutta Roy is happy over the cancellation. "Initially I was very upset and demoralised but now I look at it differently. It has served as a trial and will help me do better in the re-test,'' she says. But she does feel concerned about students like Ankit Patel who prepared for CAT taking leave from the private company for which he is working. He cannot get leave again and who knows, may never be able to fulfil his dream of joining an MBA course — all because some unscrupulous elements leaked the question paper.

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