India’s premier exams for admission into the top engineering and medical colleges of the country — JEE and NEET — frequently create news waves because of their difficulty level. This time, however, it is the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since the Narendra Modi government announced its plans to conduct the exams in September, a chorus of criticism has risen. Most of these — by various political parties and sections of liberal intelligentsia — are unwarranted, and are trying to mask various interests under the false pretence of students’ grievance.
Many of those speaking out have no locus standi to comment on the matter, having never appeared for either of these exams themselves. There are mainly three kinds of arguments that have been made against the present scheduling of these exams, and India’s engineering and medical ecosystem at large, and all three arguments need to be dissected and dismantled.
‘Students don’t want this’
This is the first argument, which ignores the reality that no candidate who has seriously prepared for the exam will ever want it to get postponed. Competition to IITs/NITs is statistically quite difficult and, all factors included, only less than 5 per cent make the cut. I say this as someone who prepared for engineering entrance exams in Kota almost a decade ago, has friends from all of India’s top engineering colleges, and studied at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Allahabad.
What I see is that a few students who are neither serious about these exams, nor are part of the club of those youngsters who might be pro-Modi/BJP, have hijacked the agenda and other political parties seem to have mistakenly given in. In fact, I’ll venture to say that some parties might be behind all this. Now before it seems that I’m putting across the viewpoint of a privileged person with no understanding of the struggles of non-affluent engineering aspirants, let me state that I do understand. Not only did I meet many such young aspirants in Kota, a very high percentage of my class at NIT hailed from lower-income backgrounds.
One of my closest friends from the institute belonged to a family whose cumulative annual income was less than Rs 1 lakh. This classmate of mine cycled 16 km every day to reach the coaching centre and then return home in Kanpur. During the long journey, he would think of solutions to difficult problems from his coursework. Another friend of mine lost his father at the age of five, and was raised by his grandfather who earned just a post office clerk’s pension. I have countless other stories. So, when I say that serious aspirants, whether affluent or not, will never want to get the exam postponed, I say it based on multiple interactions from cross-sections of society.
To those alien to the world of engineering and who have only heard of IITs, and not NITs, an analogy might explain a few things. IITs are like the three Khans of Bollywood — they enjoy world fame and are rightfully considered the torch bearers of their field. NITs are more like the likes of Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn who are bankable stars in their own right, but are considered inferior in terms of their brand value, ‘quality’ and fame. As an aside, think of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani) as Hrithik Roshan — a more stylish and equally good version of these stars/institutes, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as the evergreen Amitabh Bachchan.
Preparation for the entrance exams is generally completed every year by the end of March. Thus, the argument that those with no access to online coaching classes couldn’t prepare, or were left disheartened due to the dates not getting postponed to October, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. If the preparation has been disrupted, it’s of those students who hope to appear for the exams next year, in 2021. These exams are also conducted at a massive scale, like Indian elections, and thus, even candidates from smaller towns are likely to find a centre in a city within a 100-120 km radius.
Also read: Separate rooms for Covid-positive aspirants among govt steps to smoothly pull off NEET-JEE
The political angle
Like any healthy democracy, India has a culture of protest. While this is helpful on many occasions, sometimes it also leads to a politicisation of issues crucial to national interest. And this politicisation of JEE and NEET is simply unwarranted. In the absence of any cohesive governance agenda, India’s opposition parties are merely grasping at straws. Many anti-Modi commentators, too, have joined the bandwagon under a false impression. However, it only takes three to four people to start a protest in a population of 100, and is never representative of the larger sentiment.
New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protest saw many protesters, including many young Hindus, but did it really affect Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The chaos around the NEET-JEE exams is unlikely to affect him either. Let me also clarify that neither am I a fan of the government, nor of Modi. I am merely amused and concerned by this liberal harakiri.
Also read: With NEET-JEE, the Opposition has a shot at snatching Modi’s favourite voter — the youth
No need to change the existing pattern
In the current debate around the exams, some have recommended an entire overhaul of the present competitive exam system, falsely suggesting that it promotes rote-learning. However, nothing can be further from the truth. Contrary to popular perception, top engineering entrance exams are never about rote learning. They are invariably about application of fundamental concepts, and don’t require any significant cramming of formulas.
The present examination system is also way more egalitarian than any of the suggested alternatives. Any attempt to make admissions more holistic and profile-centric will invariably favour those who come from big cities and affluent backgrounds. An ability to excel in Mathematics is somewhat innate; fluency in the English language, or having a great extracurriculars record is more a function of privilege.
As an avowed liberal, I make a request to my fellow liberals. Let’s not destroy one of those rare systems of upward-mobility, which works well in India for petty political and personal reasons.
The author is a former journalist. He holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, a Master’s in International Relations from O.P. Jindal Global University, and was a Young India Fellow at Ashoka University. Views are personal.
This is opinion is frankly posted by an inept and privileged person. The counter arguments he presents to the postponement of exams are more rhetorical, anecdotal or simply stupid. So if some students’ test centres are 100 – 400 kms that’s just a small hurdle he writes, Mister who’s going to pay for the conveyance for those who with great difficulty managed to pay the registration fee. Ask this same question to your friend whose cumulative family income was less than Rs. 1,00,000.
And by quoting examples of those underprivileged friends the writer seems to have got the pulse of what today’s underprivileged students are going through. This unresearched and incredible opinion has been posted by ThePrint only as bait to its readers and garner as many hits as possible. Sadly I fell for this and have contributed to this piece becoming a ‘Most Popular’ article.
By the way who is Mr. Achyut Mishra ? His writing conveys clearly that India’s premier institutions produce only another bunch of privileged & insensitive Indians….is JEE really worth it ?
Very correct and clear representaion of the majority of students and their parents sentiments..a big thanks
In agreement with the author. The silent majority is studying and not wasting time.
very well said. no serious student wants the postponements of these exams . these exams require preparation for years before the exam and the standard examination date is around May . EVERY YEAR ,this is common knowledge and everyone knows this. People are treating as if cracking IIT is an afterthought , NO , it takes years of sacrifice and hard work
When the first lockdown was declared students that actually care about the exams had done their preparations and were ready as ever. Further and further postponements will never be able to please everyone , why arbitarily stop at October then ? This whole argument is so dumb
Wow you’re a student from NIT? Then why don’t you revealed your name? First of all, modi is a useless thing. No improvement in economic as well as development in India.
As per your words, protest is been conducted by paakistani students. This shows that you’re a fan of yogi adithyanath. Your favourite drink must be cow’s urine and favourite dish be cow’s dung.
If you tell us that you’re a NIT Student, we belive you ah? BJP bakth
Since u r a student or ex it is good not to make this, a political issue. and ur complement or thinking or ur logic keep it to urself….. no one is here for ur openion. i think this is a fake msg by someone if the msg is truely writen by anyone then why not he/she mention his/her name.
are there special rules for posting comments
The comment section just confirms your article. Literally the only article I have read that is actually talking with reality and not pulling facts out of their ass.
IIT expands to Indian Institute of Technology. The seats at an IIT are based on the equipment in the labs available for each different stream, the capacity of the hostels and the capacity of the halls. So if there are no students this year, next year IIT will not be able to take in double the students. This is not some arts program, where you double up the halls or conduct the same course on a different day and voila you are done. Even now, the labs are shared. On Mondays, 1-10 students go to x lab, 2-10 go to lab y and so on. And even within the labs, students 1-3 are on experiment 1, 3-6 on experiment 2, and so on. So there is very little excess capacity as is.
Engineering education in the first year is even more capacity constrained. All students in the first year are taught the same subjects. In fact, some of the best students can and often do change their streams by being exceptional 10 pointers. There are only so many lathes, woodworking, machine shop, computer labs and so on. The capacity cannot be doubled even with capital expenditure, because you need to construct buildings, procure equipment that is expensive, and you need manpower in terms of lab assistants and more. You just cannot indulge in such an exercise in a year. Otherwise, IIT’s would have doubled their space to meet the demand for quality education.
Now that is just the logistics and capacity of the resources in terms of educational resources. The hostels are an entirely different story. Even in normal years, students are house two to a room at least partially because of lack of suitable housing. And the rooms are less than six feet across. So where are you going to house double the first year strength? All IIT’s require you to stay within campus for a good reason, students need access to the resources often pretty late in the day or early in the day. So classes could be scheduled at 8.00 A.M., or as late as 8.00 P.M.
Students at IITs use their summers to improve their skills, via internships or can be coopted into research projects that professors work on. IIT professors also have a full-time work load of research projects that are truly leading edge. So, this is very much part of the education a student at IIT is exposed to much more than just the classes. So comparison to other university which is 90% of the time a teaching institution is comparing apples to rocks.
With all these constraints, IIT’s can either take on students this year or next year they can admit a slightly enlarged student pool of maybe 120% of the normal size. Postponing the JEE does not solve anything.
I don’t understand how morons like this author and his supporters don’t think of a point! For stupid’s like you it is easy to pass comments when you are safe. Imagine writing exams like JEE/NEET with hand gloves and masks. When your brain choked for oxygen (with mask) and hands sweeting (with gloves) write the test and let’s see where your Score/rank stands. Add fear of infection and non availability of transportation to this. Let’s see where do you stand?
It’s easy to underestimate others, but when you think from others POV you will realise it.
Abe gadhe, if JEE is postponed, you wont ever get a chance because there are a limited seats at IIT and which would be filled next year by next year’s aspirants!!!
I am genuinely concerned about the intelligence quotient of people writing blogs over the internet and also others commenting to it the fact that i am extremely anxious about this case and it involves my safety too i am forced to read every news related to it.and the more i read the more i am disappointed about my future my country’s future what the hell did just happen to us some 70 years ago we were the one fighting for our rights and today we are either misusing it or are distressed by the fact that if i wish to ask for my rights i may cease to exist altogether.why can’t people in power just for once do something solely for the people and not for their own selfish intentions. Saying some leader is useless wont be just helping coz they are the ones we vote for yes u heard me we choose them then why cant we stop choosing them too the govt which doesn’t realize that its power lies with the mass are idiots and the people who don’t realize that they together can make things better for themselves and choose to fight with each other are the worst idiots.
Hey you Pakistani idiot. Why is there first of all “limited seats” for a such a big country. One exam one fate is anyway a failed policy. What dont these Delhi pigs introduce continuous evaluation concept.
IIT JEE exam is actually a scam the keys are known to connected students. Instead of having a few seats for a lakhs of aspirants why cant they scrap “one exam one fate” concept and replace it with continuos valuation.
This “limited seats” graduates are anyway existing the country after getting subsidized education and the country anyway gets back nothing.
We know why Islamic Jihadi party BJP is conducting exams, they want to DEPOPULATE India. Bharat Jihadi Party brought the coronavirus to India by means like Tabliki Jamaat, running of trains and flights through March, their next step in DEPOPULATION OF INDIA is not just exams, they want to open up schools. Islamic party BJP’s target death county is no less than 10 lakhs. Muhammed Narendra Mulla Modi’s award from Gates Foundation says a lot.
Rightly said.
Let’s me sum it up you readers,
The author wants to say that if you are scared of dying from pandemic and want the exam to be postponed, then you are anti-modi, anti-bjp and therefore anti-nationalist….lol
Disappointed with print, allowing an immature elite to write his dumb review and call it voice of public..
There no need to read the crap
Let’s me sum it up you readers,
The author wants to say that if you are scared of dying from pandemic and want the exam to be postponed, then you are anti-modi, anti-bjp and therefore anti-nationalist….lol
Disappointed with print, allowing an immature elite to write his dumb review and call it voice of public..
There
The writer is concentrating more to advertise and support Mr. Modi, as it’s clearly visible when he writes with pain that he is not a Modi supporter, ha.. haa. I do not think he is an engineer, an engineer cannot put it like this indirect acting.
Regarding postponement of exam(Jee/Neet) this was mainly raised by Mr. Subramanian Swamy, so he is an anti Modi man?
Dear friend, the protest and request for postponement is after experiencing rapid spread of Covid19 after exams of Karnataka state exam and Kerala exams (keams).
You have every right to support any political party, no one can say that’s wrong, but please do not mix it with education, a lot of damage is done in Education system, but hope not to damage further, the value of education is appreciated and considered by educated people like you.
This is only my personal view.
40%students are absent when that happened last times. Govt decisions are for elites ignoring the poor and marginalized students.
What a view to print ex kota student?
“ITs are like the three Khans of Bollywood — they enjoy world fame and are rightfully considered the torch bearers of their field. NITs are more like the likes of Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn who are bankable stars in their own right, but are considered inferior in terms of their brand value, ‘quality’ and fame”
What nonsense.
Have IIT ever won a Nobel Prize?
Have IIT designed an Operating System of their own ?
Have IIT designed a CPU on it’s own?
Have IIT designed a programming language of it:s own ?
Many students who land up here are not trained to become practical engineers. They study a lot of theory and clear exams. There is just too much academics. And almost all are trying to get a high paying job in India or abroad with the brand value of studying in these colleges. Many of them don’t even do the job in the field they graduated in. Many end up as managers, politicians, bureaucrats, economists etc instead of becoming dedicated engineers.
What are you talking about. This is the problem in India. We are talking about exam, and you are talking about value of IIT.
We know what this “exam” is about” This “exam” is a scam. THis exam does not test fundamentals, but is nothing but “riddle solving” where keys are known to connected aspirants.
We know the main reason why Islamic Jihadi party BJP is conducting exams, they want to DEPOPULATE India. Bharat Jihadi Party brought the coronavirus to India by means like Tabliki Jamaat, running of trains and flights through March, their next step in DEPOPULATION OF INDIA is not just exams, they want to open up schools. Islamic party BJP’s target death count is no less than 10 lakhs. Muhammed Narendra Mulla Modi’s award from Gates Foundation says a lot.
The exams should take place. If not now very soon. But the reasons sited by Mr Mishra are lame. He is far removed from reality. Most likely Kota factory did not teach him this.
The author has written more about his acquaintances, his educational background, than the subject at hand. You might be very smart but we have not come to read about you, but to understand why people are willing or unwilling to take the exam.
This is very poor from ThePrint. First, branding the other opinion as coming from people who never appeared for these exams. Then giving proof of your struggling background to get acceptability.
For your information, I am still pursuing M.Tech in IISc and I am coming from a background where I needed to take loan even to join the M.Tech program. For those who dont know, IISc is far cheaper than any NITs.
Though I believe no one should put hurdles before the exams and create uncertainties to the aspirants. I also believe the exams should not be happening at a time like this, in the first place. And I can surely say that some people have messed up their preparations due to the long standing lockdown. Especially those belonging to the families who need to earn everyday to feed themselves.
So whatever opinion you have, its yours and yours only. No need to brand it right and the others fake.
@Sandipan Halder You are absolutely right!! The Print & all these *leftist scoundrels give baseless arguments and work against the people & nation most of the time!!
Their paymaster’s China gave India the virus and there is partial lock down, transport will be problem, wearing masks & gloves will be a problem… All reasons you cite and there are many others to postpone the exams!!
We dont need these exams period. These exams do NOT test a students fundamentals, but prepogrammed “riddle solving” where keys are known to connected aspirants.
Why should there be first of all “limited seats” for a student community aspirants in the lakhs. Why cant this whole thing be replaced by continuos valuations.
We know the main reason why Islamic Jihadi party BJP is conducting exams, they want to DEPOPULATE India. Bharat Jihadi Party brought the coronavirus to India by means like Tabliki Jamaat, running of trains and flights through March, their next step in DEPOPULATION OF INDIA is not just exams, they want to open up schools. Islamic party BJP’s target death count is no less than 10 lakhs. Muhammed Narendra Mulla Modi’s award from Gates Foundation says a lot..
Those who not want can abstain. Is there any penalty for this? None. So, those who want to appear and study further, let them do, those who do want, let them wait for as long as they want. They charges against exam are ridiculously unacceptable. After all, out of 15 lac only about 80000 make it to MBBS. Obviously, for some of the unsuccessful the exam is elitist. But then if a person is scared to appear for entrance test of a medical doctor, what would such a person do tomorrow if he / she is a qualified doctor and will be required to regularly work hard in difficult conditions.
For your kind information in jee we get just 3 attempts.
What if a person would be dropper?
What about him?
Those who are infected? What about them.
Earlier they said such persons will be allowed to give exam in separate rooms. Now saying u will be allowed to give later on
Later on??? When? Jan 2021?
Wow what a master plan to ruin life of lakhs.
Then what about a student who worked hard for years and is a good student who has potential score but is lying on bed
I can see selfishness dripping from ur comment
Think of everyone then everyone will be with u
Well written by the author, and could well be absolutely true. If a student is truly driven, and has prepared well, he or she will write the exam at any cost. Because, this is an aspirational exam, for which students have been preparing hard for over 2 years. They have all been waiting to write this exam.
of course let’s increase our daily cases from 70k to 1 lakh , if they’re so adamant then why no do it in may , the government has never listened and will never will.
Wiil tell only one point.
NEET has to be conducted on Sep 13, 2020. No need for furthet postponement
I have an aspirant in my family. When i write next few lines, i want you to understand that this is what most families ad students are protesting for. I dont care of any political parties or student union bodies. I my state, my districts mere going out to buy daily grocery is equivalent to going on war. No one knows who gets infected by covid n where. Pple coughing sneezing everwhere. Our daily habit is take a bath before entering house n that too within an hour aftr going out if possible. We made a temp bathroom outside since covid. Under such scerario, do you expect me as a parent or my child as a teenager to go out to a different city, staying in some hotel, sitting a room of 30 40 people from scattered places n attend exam. You have my concerns. Its is not about study materials etc. Do not compare with other regions or people or previous years. This is a pandemic. Differnt cicumstances in different places n people.
Honestly stop posting such unresonable and fake news. Literally no child or a student would want their exam to be postponed just because of a government. Its an epidemic thats on loose. And more importantly others exams despite having less students appearing has been postponed then why not jee-neet.
Now I imagine, why you are named as you are named. Your article stinks. You couldn’t find yourself either on the side of students who wanted to write exam or those who don’t or even political party supporting it or not supporting it. By the way I am from one of the top IITs. And I have only one thing resonating true in the article that IITs are much better than NITs even in political thinking.