There is no other choice but entrance test

Reform evaluation system Pushpesh Kumar Apropos of Prof Vijay Gupta’s article in the Education Tribune (March 22) where the learned expert had shared his views about scrapping entrance examinations, while it is widely known that entrance-test coaching is a big industry, the utility of entrance tests should not be underestimated till various school education boards adopt reliable evaluation methods.

Give weightage to board exams I. M. Joshi Prof Vijay Gupta, in his article of March 22, has given us an insider’s view of the ills of entrance tests, but these are not limited to IIT-JEE. We have all watched helplessly over the last few years how entrance tests, introduced to address certain problem of the education scene of the early and mid 1980s, have degenerated into a ritual to admit a few hundred students every year in professional colleges, institutes and university departments.

ADMISSION DEADLINE

There is no other choice but entrance test
Reform evaluation system
Pushpesh Kumar

Apropos of Prof Vijay Gupta’s article in the Education Tribune (March 22) where the learned expert had shared his views about scrapping entrance examinations, while it is widely known that entrance-test coaching is a big industry, the utility of entrance tests should not be underestimated till various school education boards (SEBs) adopt reliable evaluation methods.

Entrance tests came as a result of the number of seats in professional colleges being less than the number of aspirants. These tests were seen as a way of filtering the “deserving” from the “desiring”. Now not only the coaching and allied industries reap in huge profits, even the universities and other bodies conducting these tests treat these as profit-making ideas, as seen from the difference between the examination fee and the actual expenditure on the conduct of these tests.

How the coaching industry developed to this extent is worth probing. First, it was the credit and security that good professional education brought with it fort he middle class, which took to the competitive examinations like never before.

Then, there was and there is a fundamental flaw in the entrance examinations because these are not framed from the prescribed textbooks and are of a higher level. This requirement of the additional information for getting through the highly competitive entrance tests and no parity with the school education created an information (rather than knowledge) gap, which was filed by the coaching industry.

Mr Gupta is right that as long as the marks obtained by students in the IIT entrance tests remain hidden from the public, the coaching industry would continue to thrive on the minority success it has been achieving, so far. We are not against the coaching industry, but they who get through the entrance tests via this route are not always the deserving ones, ordinary but not students who can pay for the expensive coaching.

The entrance tests can indeed be scrapped if the SEBs starts publishing the mean score and standard deviation of the marks obtained for the purpose of admission to professional colleges. However, it is a hard reality that answer books are evaluated by “professional examiners”, who have set targets in terms of the money they want to make in a session.

The number of examiners who make more than Rs 10,000 every year by marking the answer books can be taken from the head examiners. The evaluator gets Rs 2 for each class VIII paper, Rs 3 for each class X paper and Rs 3.50 for every class XII paper. There are cases where examiners get the answer books issued in their name and get these marked by some other teacher, and keep a part of the honorarium as commission.

The “proxy-examiner” is often advised to mark the answer books leniently and not to fail any student, which could lead to a scrutiny of their marking. Those who pass the tests never bother about their marks and those who were to get, say, 60 per cent marks, get more than 70 per cent, as they were awarded marks leniently, disregarding their actual performance.

This industrial-scale marking reduces the quality of evaluation, so Mr Gupta’s suggestion of admitting students on the basis of scores of secondary school examinations would lead to another problem. A simple step would be to return the marked answer book to the student concerned. This would ensure that the copy is marked fairly.

Only a few teachers devote a proper amount of time to evaluation, leaving space for the “industrious” ones to mint money at the cost of students. To solve this problem, the evaluation duty should be made mandatory for all eligible teachers. Some examiners get nearly 300 answer books (per packet) for evaluation, while others don’t mark even a single copy in a year.

If the answer books are packed in smaller packets (of 50 each, say), it would involve a little extra labour, but reduce the time taken in evaluating answer books. The result, thus, would truly represent the performance of students. The system of examination can also be changed from the present annual to semester and open-book system should also be tried.

One of my fellow townsmen, who did his MBBS from AIIMS, had never seen a laboratory before his admission to the medical college, as he was never taken to one during his high school. His school had no laboratory and even attendance was not required; but it was mandatory to attend coaching classes for PMT during school hours also.

Give weightage to board exams
I. M. Joshi

Prof Vijay Gupta, in his article of March 22, has given us an insider’s view of the ills of entrance tests, but these are not limited to IIT-JEE. We have all watched helplessly over the last few years how entrance tests, introduced to address certain problem of the education scene of the early and mid 1980s, have degenerated into a ritual to admit a few hundred students every year in professional colleges, institutes and university departments.

It is unfortunate that a mechanism conceived as a remedial step to ensure that deserving students do not suffer on account of non-uniform syllabi of school boards, varying evaluation standards a rampant copying has deviated towards being an agonising exercise for students and parents, biting into their budget.

The many flaws that have crept into the conduct of entrance tests include impersonation, unreported copying and inconsistencies in the academically unsound evaluation, not to mention the rising number of entrance-test rackets. This is direct fallout of the “make-or-break” 2-3 hour test, for which the stakes are high and so is the cost.

The performance of a student in the class XII examination, for which he or she spends three hours in the examination hall for each test, is totally ignored. Equally serious is the element of chance in the candidate’s performance, particularly when there is no negative marking. The level of an entrance test for joining academic professional courses seems to have been reduced to that of the recruitment tests conducted by banks, railway board etc.

We don’t have feedback on whether or not the entrance tests have really helped the institutions raise their standard by way of getting better students. However, it is heartening to know from Mr Vijay Gupta that there was some thinking going on at various levels on this issue.

The ever-increasing number of entrance tests for admission to engineering courses was checked, though marginally, with the academic year 2002-03, but the list of such tests, conducted at the state and university levels is still long. All this is being done in the name of generating own resources, since the institutions of higher education have been starved of essential funds by successive governments.

After having tasted blood, many institutes would now create hurdles in the path of abolishing entrance tests. The only other option is to make the best of the given situation by reforming the admission and examination patterns. Let this be binding on all and not discretionary that the overall merit for admission where entrance tests are held is determined by the performance both in the annual board or pre-professional or university examination and the entrance test. This may be done by downward or upward moderation in marks scored in the respective qualifying examination as suggested by Mr Gupta, to solve the problem of non-uniform evaluation standards. This will cut the weightage given to the entrance tests.

The use of multiple-choice questions in entrance tests has become widespread, but there are alternatives like the multi-completion type questions where one or more of the answers may be correct and the candidate chooses on answer corresponding to the correct combination. This way, students who have a thorough knowledge of the subject can be distinguished from those who have been trained to get familiar with one correct choice just by getting repeatedly exposed to a variety of question sets.

Armed Forces

Elig: Bachelor’s Deg (50%) + religious qual (Pandit/ Granthi/ Buddhist Monk/ Padre); Age: 27 - 34 yrs.

Selectn: Written Exam: 7 Aug

Appln F: Send appln to the concerned HQ Recruiting Zone BRO Secunderabad/ Trichy/Mangalore/Trivandrum/ regimental centres.

Details: Employment News (7-13 May)

Civil Service

Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, New Delhi 110069
www.upsc.gov.in

Elig: Bachelor’s/Master’s Deg. Age: 20 - 24 yrs (on 1 Aug ‘05).

Selectn: Written Test, Phys Efficiency Tests & Medical Stand Test.

Appln F: At designated HPOs/POs: Rs 20/- (Cash).

Details: Employment News (7-13 May) & website.

Engineering

Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior (Deemed Univ), Morena Link Rd, Gwalior 474003
www.iiitm.ac.in

Elig: Bachelor’s deg in Comp Sc & Engineering/ Tech/ Electron Engineering/ Electric Engineering or equiv (60% or CGPA: 6.75/10). Valid GATE score mandatory.

Selectn: Test/ Interview (last week of June).

Appln F: Send Rs 500/- by DD favouring "Director, ABV IIITM Gwalior" payable at Gwalior with a stamped (Rs.50/-) self add A4 size env to Mr. S Ghosh, HOD (T), Ed CIL House, 18-A, Sec 16 A, Noida 201 301 or download from website.

Details: Website.

Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, HP
Jaypee Institute of Engineering & Technology, Guna, MP
www.jiit.ac.in

Details: Website

Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Guindy Chennai 600032 (TN)
www.cipetindia.com

MTech (PT/PE)/ PG Diploma (Plastic Engg/ CAD/ CAM Plastic Engg/ Plastic Processing & Testing)/ Post Dip in (Plastic Mould Design/ Machine Maintenance)/ Intgd Dual Dip/ Post Dip (Plastic Mould Tech)

Selectn: JEE: 10 July

Appln F: Send Rs. 300/- by DD fvg "Director General, CIPET", payable at Chennai with a stamped (Rs. 45/-) self add env (35 x 25 cms) to the above add or any CIPET centres.

Details: Website

Languages

National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (M/o HRD, GoI), West Block-1, R.K. Puram, New Delhi- 110066
www.urducouncil.nic.in

Diploma in Urdu (Hin/Eng, Dist, 1-yr)

Elig: Knowledge of Hindi/ Engilish

Appln F: Send Rs.300/-by DD fvg "NCPUL, New Delhi" to the above add. At counter: Rs. 160/- (In Cash)

Details: Website

Age: 15 yrs (on 1Jul).

Appln F: Send appln in prescribed format with Rs 50/- by DD fvg "The Director, Central Hindi Directorate", New Delhi.

Law

BA LLB (Hons) (5 yr, integrated)

Elig: 10+2 with Eng (50%). Age: 20 yrs (on 1 July).

Selectn: Entrance Test: 12 June.

Appln F: Send Rs 550/- by DD fvg "Registrar, KU, Kurukshetra" to the Director at above add or download from website.

PG Prog in Human Rights (2-yr Corresp)

Elig: Bachelor’s deg.

Appln F: Send Rs 45/- by MO/IPO/DD fvg "Indian Institute of Human Rights" payable at New Delhi to the above add.

Management

Elig: BE/ BTech/ MCA (60%/ 6.75 CGPA on a 10 pt scale) & valid JMET score.

Appln F: Send Rs. 500/- by DD fvg "Director, ABV-IIITM Gwalior" payable at Gwalior with self-add stamped (Rs 50/-) env (A4 size) to Mr. S Ghosh, HOD (T), Ed CIL House, 18-A, Sec 16 A, Noida 201 301 or download from website.

PG Cert (1-yr, dist)
1) Health & Family Welfare Mgt
2) Hosp Mgt

Elig: For 1: MBBS, State/MCI regd & 2 –yr wk exp in hosp (excluding Internship/House Job).
For 2: MBBS, State/MCI regd & 5-yr wk ex in hosp. (excluding Internship/House Job).

Appln F: Send Rs. 100/- by DD fvg "Director, NIHFW" payable at New Delhi to add above by 3 June/ d’load from website.

Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning (SCDL), 1st Floor, New Mgmt Bldg, Atur Centre, 1068, Gokhale Cross Road, Model Colony, Pune 411016.
www.scdl.net

PG Dip in Busi Admin/ Intnl Busi/ HRM/ IT/ Insurance Mgt (1-yr)
Certificate Course in Instructnl Des/ CRM/ Entrepreneurship Dev & Mgt (6-mnth)
AppIn F: Send Rs 1000/- by DD fvg "The Director SCDL", payable at Pune to above add.

Details: Website.

MBA in Banking Tech Mgt (2-yr FT)

Elig: BE/ BTech (Comp Sc/ IT)/ Bachelor’s deg (Comp Sc/ IT/ Comp Appln)/ Bachelor’s deg with PGDCA (55% in all Deg & Dip).

Selectn: Entrance exam: 4 June, GD & Interview.

Appln F: Send Rs 300/- by DD fvg "Finance Officer, Pondicherry University", payable at Pondicherry with a stamped (Rs.50/-) self-add env (A4 size) to the Deputy Registrar (Acad II) at the above add/ D’load from website

Elig: Bachelor’s deg. 3 yrs wk ex at managerial level.

Appln F: Send Rs 1,250/- by DD fvg "Institute of Management Technology" payable at Ghaziabad with 2 self-add stickers indicating ph. no. to the Chairman (Admissions) at above add.

Details: Website.

Mass Communication

MA (Advt & PR/Broadcast Journalism/Mass Communication )

MSc (Electron Media)

PG Dip in Video Prodn
(At Noida Campus)

(At Khandwa Campus)

Appln F: Send Rs 100/- by DD fvg "Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal" payable at Bhopal by 25th May at above add.

Details: Website.

Elig: Bachelor’s/ Master’s deg (60%) from either IIMC, LSR, St.Stephen’s, SIMC, ACJ, AJK Mass Comm res center, MCC, St.Xaviers, Presidency, JU,D/o Comm Studies (Pune Univ) , 75% in Class XII & X. Age: Born on or after 1 Jan 1980

Work Ex: 0-1 yr

Appln F: Apply online.

Medicine

Appln F: Send Rs. 100/- by DD fvg "Registrar, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi-25" with stamped (Rs 50/-) self-add env (9"x12") to above add or d’load from website.