Kapil Sibal, proposes to modify the entrance criteria to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) to include an 80% cutoff based on Class XII marks instead of the current 60%. Since I am not an expert in the area of education policy, my opinion on this proposed measure is going to be based on my personal experiences.
As I understand, the education system, in general, and the IIT system, in particular, must reflect two features of the current Indian cricket team. First, the Indian team contains batsmen who are as different from each other as chalk and cheese, yet excel in what they do. While Viru relies on hand-eye coordination and an uncluttered mind to steamroll opposition bowlers, our beloved ?Wall? epitomises the studious IITian. Each of Dravid?s actions on and off the field is deliberate and chosen to optimise his potential. And then, there is Tendlya with such a low grip on his bat that most coaches would have frowned upon it as technically incorrect. Similarly, our education system must retain the original sparks that students show in their academic careers and hone them further so that they can go on to excel as innovative entrepreneurs, creative researchers, able lawyers, managers, doctors, engineers, etc.
Second, our cricket team is led by a man who hails from Ranchi, which is not a traditional stronghold for producing cricketers. It also contains budding cricketers such as Sudeep Tyagi, who hails from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh ?again not a city associated with cricketing greats. In other words, the education system must be egalitarian enough to fuel their desire to join elite institutions and excel in their respective fields.
Given these two objectives, I would suggest substantive changes to the current proposal. Education policy in this area must help in restoring the balance away from the current sole emphasis on entrance examinations. However, requiring cutoffs based on Class XII marks will defeat both the objectives outlined above, which are: (i) to engender original thinkers, or ?game breakers? to use cricket parlance; and (ii) to create an egalitarian education system. As it currently stands, the Class XII examination rewards rote learning considerably more than the IIT JEE examination. Therefore, instead of generating game breakers, the current change will only encourage rote learners further. Neither will this step reduce the pervasive influence of coaching institutes, which arguably hinder the creation of an egalitarian education system. In several states that assign a weightage to Class XII marks as well, coaching institutes provide coaching for Class XII as well. Coaching institutes will respond to this policy change by coaching students for Class XII examinations nationwide as well, again advantaging students who can afford such coaching.
In any case, I do not believe that coaching classes are the primary contributors to success in the IIT-JEE. If that were the case, why does everyone who joins a coaching class not get admitted to the IIT JEE? Or why does everyone who joins a coaching class not secure a top rank in the IIT JEE? These differences stem from an individual?s brilliance and diligence just in the same way as all those who learnt at Ramakant Achrekar?s coaching academy did not play for the Indian cricket team. Even among those who were good enough to play in the Indian team, the experiences of Tendulkar, Kambli and Pravin Amre were very different precisely for the same reasons.
Instead of trying to minimise the influence of coaching classes by requiring the 80% cutoff, the pattern of examinations both for Class XII and the IIT JEE needs to change. About 20-25% of the questions in Class XII examinations must reward original and creative thinking. For example, patterning 20-25% of the questions along the ones that feature in the mathematics, science and cyber Olympiads will separate the students that are both talented and diligent from the ones that are merely diligent. Similarly, the pattern for the IIT JEE should change every year without prior notice. The surprises should be such that they creatively test the basic concepts and their applications. The element of surprise will reduce any influence that coaching institutes have on the probability of getting admitted to these elite institutions. Students relying on these coaching institutes get set in a pattern by undergoing their regimen. However, the element of surprise will advantage the students so that they can think originally and can respond to such changes on the fly. These surprises will also enable these elite institutions to breed students that have the temperament to take on all the challenges and surprises that life springs upon us.
?The author is assistant professor of finance at Emory University, Atlanta, and a visiting scholar at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad