The latest news is how students from AP are getting cheated of their rightful place in IIT. All because of weightage given to Inter marks and the marks equalisation scheme introduced by CBSE. Students who scored high in the entrance exam got a lesser rank because of their performance in Intermediate exam.
Craze for engineering and medical courses has always been the crux of every family in AP. Every parent wants their child to be an engineer or doctor. This has resulted in heavy competition. Entrance exams were introduced to select worthy candidates. Growth in the number of engineering colleges in the state resulted in increase in the intake for engineers. Coaching centers have cashed in on this opportunity. Where it was an insult to have tuition, now getting into a coaching center has a become prestigious issue. Some colleges converted to college-cum-coaching center mode. The teaching format changed from understanding the concept to rote learning.
Another trend that emerged was colleges finishing the Inter syllabus as early in the academic year as possible, devoting the rest of the time to preparation for entrance exams and revisiting Inter syllabi just before board exams. This resulted in the feeling that Inter is of no consequence. Since it is a qualifier for all engineering courses, one has to pass, marks do not matter neither does the content. There have been cases where students got ranks in EAMCET but failed in Inter. To cater to such cases instant exams came into picture, student gets a chance to rectify their marks without loosing an year of study. I feel that adding weightage to Inter marks in engineering admissions is a very sensible move. The basics are being getting neglected for long in AP. It is like ignoring the oil change in your vehicle since you filled it with petrol in abundance. Both are equally necessary.
Coming to the second aspect, marks equalisation. The war of boards has been on since their inception. ICSE syllabus was supposed to be tough, AP state board very high scoring while CBSE was very low scoring. I have known students shifting from CBSE to AP board when they come to Inter saying Inter standard is better, but the actual reason for the shift was easy score. CBSE has always been given step-motherly treatment in AP. This is all common knowledge, so why create a ruckus now, when the education board is trying to set things right? Trying to bring all education boards on par is the first step towards educational equality. Percentile system is not a new concept. All management courses adopt it. So what is the problem, now?
Change is never accepted with open arms, even when it is for the betterment of society. People are not realising the effects of bad foundation. Look at all the failures around us. Buildings collapsing, roads crumpling, bridges snapping, airline accidents. Everyone blames corruption. If engineers are confident of their skills why would they be tempted to make easy money? Because they lack basic knowledge, they want to make maximum of the opportunity presented to them before they are exposed. Wouldn't it be better if we can produce good quality engineers and improve the society, instead to looking for ways to mass produce low quality engineers and suffer consequences?
Craze for engineering and medical courses has always been the crux of every family in AP. Every parent wants their child to be an engineer or doctor. This has resulted in heavy competition. Entrance exams were introduced to select worthy candidates. Growth in the number of engineering colleges in the state resulted in increase in the intake for engineers. Coaching centers have cashed in on this opportunity. Where it was an insult to have tuition, now getting into a coaching center has a become prestigious issue. Some colleges converted to college-cum-coaching center mode. The teaching format changed from understanding the concept to rote learning.
Another trend that emerged was colleges finishing the Inter syllabus as early in the academic year as possible, devoting the rest of the time to preparation for entrance exams and revisiting Inter syllabi just before board exams. This resulted in the feeling that Inter is of no consequence. Since it is a qualifier for all engineering courses, one has to pass, marks do not matter neither does the content. There have been cases where students got ranks in EAMCET but failed in Inter. To cater to such cases instant exams came into picture, student gets a chance to rectify their marks without loosing an year of study. I feel that adding weightage to Inter marks in engineering admissions is a very sensible move. The basics are being getting neglected for long in AP. It is like ignoring the oil change in your vehicle since you filled it with petrol in abundance. Both are equally necessary.
Coming to the second aspect, marks equalisation. The war of boards has been on since their inception. ICSE syllabus was supposed to be tough, AP state board very high scoring while CBSE was very low scoring. I have known students shifting from CBSE to AP board when they come to Inter saying Inter standard is better, but the actual reason for the shift was easy score. CBSE has always been given step-motherly treatment in AP. This is all common knowledge, so why create a ruckus now, when the education board is trying to set things right? Trying to bring all education boards on par is the first step towards educational equality. Percentile system is not a new concept. All management courses adopt it. So what is the problem, now?
Change is never accepted with open arms, even when it is for the betterment of society. People are not realising the effects of bad foundation. Look at all the failures around us. Buildings collapsing, roads crumpling, bridges snapping, airline accidents. Everyone blames corruption. If engineers are confident of their skills why would they be tempted to make easy money? Because they lack basic knowledge, they want to make maximum of the opportunity presented to them before they are exposed. Wouldn't it be better if we can produce good quality engineers and improve the society, instead to looking for ways to mass produce low quality engineers and suffer consequences?
Very apt and true observations. Let us hope things will improve soon.
ReplyDeleteI.I.T is very prestigious no doubt but many students from that institute are complaining of poor faculty.The result is based on their self-effort they are saying.It is a welcoming fact to prepare for exams without spoon-feeding but after habituated for it in their previous coaching centers students are unable to cope-up without guidance.Hence low marks in first semester.
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