IIT-JEE catered to rich and powerful, needed change: Sibal

The existing IIT entrance exams catered only to the rich and powerful who could send their wards to coaching classes and as a result required an overhaul, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said.

“An IIT Mumbai study shows, out of 476 students that were admitted 300 came from coaching centers. This exams have become urban centric,” Sibal said in an exclusive interview with CNN IBN.

Pointing to the plethora of coaching classes which cater to students writing the IIT-JEE, Sibal said,“It caters to the rich and powerful who can able to send their children for coaching.”

According to Sibal, the new system will also increase the number of girl students at the IITs.

“If you notice girls do best in the class XII board and yet there are no girls in the IIT. Because parents cannot afford to send their young girls to Kota,” he said.

According to the minister, the new examination system will ensure that class XII examinations are given sufficient importance. Sibal said the schooling system was suffering due to students not being concerned about their class XII examinations.

“In India, children, because they have to sit for the IIT, don’t bother about their class XII board exams. So the school systems and the standard of the school systems are declining,” Sibal said.

Denying that the new examination system would be a burden and additional stress for students, Sibal said, “A board exam is not a burden, its a foundation of future knowledge.”