“One Nation, One Test Possible Implications” – (By Nalineesh Chand)
Whether conducting one entrance test for a particular stream is good for a nation or conducting multiple examinations for various degree colleges could be a good option, is doing the rounds after Union Minister for Human Resources Mr. Kapil Sibal recently announced that Government intends to issue notification according to which there would be just one entrance examination for Engineering from 2013 at all India level. Let us understand the advantages and disadvantages of one all India Level Entrance Examinations (with the example of Engineering) before deriving any conclusion on the subject.
Government proposes to introduce JEE(Joint Entrance Examination) after 12th for entering various Engineering Colleges and Technology Institutes from the year 2013, which would replace the present All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) & IIT-JEE conducted by IITs Apart from this it would also do away with various Engineering Examinations conducted by various States. A joint merit list will be conducted based on the marks obtained in 12th Standard and JEE Exam (Mains as well as Advanced).
Let us now enumerate the advantages of Single Entrance Examination for Engineering. Firstly, Ranking would be based on All India level on the test, which would mean anyone obtaining a particular rank, can be very well sure of the college and the stream he or she could secure, since there would be no double application to various colleges as currently prevailing. Presently one candidate appearing for IIT-JEE also appears for AIEEE and also fares well in State Level Entrance Exam for Engineering, which means the candidate is likely to obtain and secure admission in more than one college and later on the cancelled seat might be given to the waitlisted candidates, this may cause despair to the waitlisted candidate till the seats are allocated to him/her. Secondly, the candidates of 12th standard already spend lot of time and energy covering their class 12 curriculum and in addition, it is difficult for them to cover the syllabus for different entrance tests, as the curriculum of IIT-JEE is tougher than that of AIEEE & hence variety of study is required for every entrance exam. Thirdly, it will also avoid candidates switching from one college to other college as merit list of JEE will be the only list and the college allotted based on it would be one and the final. Fourthly, It will also ensure that the systematic data of admissions would be available online and can be very well used by the candidate for securing the admissions based on last year cut-off as there would be just one exam, the data would be more reliable and useful. Fifthly, one test would also save the cost associated with conducting number of exams. Finally it will remove disparity among Institutes as all the Institutes will be accepting the merit based on JEE and hence differentiation between IITs and Non- IITs at the entrance level would be avoided.
Let us now enumerate the Disadvantages of Single Entrance Examination for Engineering. Firstly, One Entrance Test would result in compromising in the quality of Entrance Tests, as it is not bound to be tougher (considering the socio-economic background of students of India) and hence there is a greater possibility of us compromising on the Merit of the students, especially at the IITs. Secondly IITs(Indian Institute of Technology) have been the premier Institute of Engineering and Technology for large number of years & have gained the expertise in eliminating and selecting the best candidate for the Prestigious Institute through its entrance. A common test , how much ever tough it may be, may not be able to match to the standards of IITs. Thidly, there is a large possibility of one candidate missing the test due to ill health, accident or any other personal tragedy on the date of exam, hence such a student will lose the opportunity of appearing for other tests, which were possible in multi-entrance scenarios.
On the lines of Entrance exams of Engineering, various other fields of Education like Medical, Architecture, Management etc may be thought in the future as “Single Entrance” & the advantages and disadvantages remain the same as mentioned above in case of Engineering. Hence it would be appropriate to conclude that “One Nation – One Test” in any field has more advantages for the students than its disadvantages. However we need to appreciate the concerns of Prestigious Institutions (IITs and IIMs) and try and consult with these institutes and develop a One Test in such a way that the quality of this test ensures right selection of the candidates.
