The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : THE CONFUSION CONTINUES

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Monday, Dec 13, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

THE CONFUSION CONTINUES

THERE IS AN urgent need for policy that will bring order and clarity to the admissions process for technical education in the country. The Centre's recent decision to re-order the scheme for entrance tests, therefore, raised expectations that a comprehensive procedure was round the corner. A wide-ranging approach would give hope to candidates that admission to engineering and other technical courses for national and State-level institutions during academic year 2005 would be handled professionally and that they would be spared long delays caused by tortuous litigation. The policy recently notified by the Centre, however, envisages no such comprehensive scheme. It limits itself to mandating that specified national institutions should adopt the All India Engineering/ Pharmacy/Architecture Entrance Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. For management courses in Central institutions, a scheme similar to the common entrance examinations of the Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology has been prescribed. Central and Deemed Universities have been given the option to adopt these tests or conduct their own in a fair and transparent manner for engineering and management courses. States can choose from a specified list of entrance tests.

Positive though it may be in intent, the new policy does not appear to have taken note of the deep distress caused to hundreds of thousands of students and parents in the current scheme, which virtually imprisons them during the summer months. It makes them chase application forms for a plethora of tests, pay huge amounts for tutorials and college procedures, yet remain unsure of the outcome. The Centre's approach of respecting the rights of States in the field of education while mandating limited changes in procedure is consistent with the federal scheme. Yet more could have been done to build a consensus among States on an omnibus admissions scheme for the rapidly expanding realm of self-financing higher education, professional courses in particular. The lack of agreement on what constitutes a fair, equitable, and transparent framework for admissions and fees has meant the issues have had to be settled by the Supreme Court. With Deemed Universities given the liberty to opt out, the objective of freeing students from the oppressive burden of taking multiple entrance examinations stands primarily defeated. Thousands of young men and women, and their parents, will continue to face a dilemma: either keep up with a multiplicity of admission notifications and prepare for non-standard tests at considerable expense — or be ready to limit your choices.

There is consensus among educational experts that a radical shift in thinking is required if confusion and uncertainty are to be eliminated from the present admission process. While upholding the principle of equity through appropriate quotas for disadvantaged sections, a new benchmark test to grade candidates may be a more scientific and viable alternative. Candidates in the country are already familiar with such an examination pattern for study in the United States, where the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) scores are stipulated or accepted by most universities. Such an examination system with variants at the national and State level for different institutions could supersede all existing testing methodologies, and end the confusion over dates and patterns. This course would demand close Centre-State coordination and a determination to resist pressures from vested interests that are expert at making commerce out of confusion.

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