So the JEE is in mortal danger. At this point when each of students, faculty and management are busy voicing their opinions, I was wondering whether we are even asking the right questions.
The stakeholders in this game are (a) the students (b) IITs (c) society. It is queer to note that ministry and management are not first level stakeholders by any measure. They are supposed to 'represent' the society in this equation, but given that they seemed to have stopped listening and are coming up with brilliant ideas all on their own, lets cast them aside.
So what do each of the stakeholders really need? Lets start backwards.
Society needs 'qualified engineers, scientists and leaders' to serve the nation. How does the process of changing the JEE format answer that need? Once you think about this, you'll realize that the connection is not at all obvious. The ministry supposes that by changing the format of the exam they will be able to induct students 'with a genuine love for engineering' into the elite institutions, which will end up serving the aforesaid purpose since they wont be deviated towards alternative career distractions (read 'white collar') which has been the growing trend.
Both these assumptions are highly dubious and debatable. Firstly, at a +2 level, rarely anybody knows that they are 'genuinely interested in engineering' - I never did, and neither did hordes of my friends. At best, students know that they love basic sciences. Society-defined status quo and peer pressure, coupled with the utter lack of world class institutions for undergraduate basic science education (with due respect to the few St Xavier's, Presidencies and Annas scattered in a discombobulated manner) dictates that such students take up engineering or medicine as a career. I would like to know what process can filter out students who were 'born to be engineers' with a high level of confidence, especially in India where high school education is deeply theoretical and only a small fraction of students engage in science fairs, modeling projects and the like (note - no ministry ever thought of looking into that as a background).
As for the point of lateral attrition, it is worthy of note that the students 'genuinely interested in engineering', especially from IITs, end up pursuing graduate studies in foreign shores (read USA) and more often than not settle there. Those who do stay back suffer from a lack of challenging and rewarding 'core engineering jobs' within the country. No wonder that large numbers of them switch tracks to finance or management in order to earn well and live respectably while staying within India. The ministry does nothing to promote jobs and RnD, and pushes off-the-shelf resolutions without even an attempt at getting the appropriate ground work started.
Now what do the IITs (aka, hopefully, faculty) need? Having been through the system, the IITs actually need very little by way of undergraduates. The current process inducts students who have been through such a rigorous process of training that they end up being successful almost regardless of anything else. From personal experience, I know that the students who topped the JEE will continue to do the same regardless of the format. These students are not dumb you know. You change the format and they will adapt within days. Especially when the stakes are as high as being admitted into the only chain of undergraduate colleges in India known on a first-name basis throughout the world.
What IITs really need today is a drastic increase in the focus on research. While IITs have made a formidable reputation in undergraduate education, one has to squint to evince their presence in post-graduate studies. It is of immense import that the M.Tech and PhD students graduating out of IITs actually end up working in the IT industry and faculty positions across the nation. If the ministry were to do anything about increasing the output of quality engineers into the Indian workforce, this should be the stream they should attack first. Better resources, collaborations, industry liason, meaningful and productive research translating into stories of success and impact. To me, the fact that this crucial hinge has been all but overlooked is deeply disturbing.
Finally the students. Students are much smarter than you think. They easily realize that the door to the IITs is synonymous to financial stability, social respect and professional success in India as well as the world. While the prudes may groan at students using the 'IIT stamp' to get places, I do not see how they are to blame given that the IITs are among the only universally recognized colleges from India across the world, and an almost lack of RnD in India. So while it might sound very sympathetic to 'reduce the stress of examinations', one cannot forget what is at stake is worth a whole lifetime. For that, students are NOT going to relax even if the entrance is made easy, but will only fight harder to shine above the rest of the populace. If the ministry thinks including school scores will make a difference, students will only reorient themselves to ace both (personally, board exams were a joke after the preparation we went through for JEE). Throw what you will, the best of the crop will adapt themselves to find their way. The ministry is making the crucial mistake again of expecting mediocrity out of a chain of institutions clearly set aside for elitism, and for all their efforts, students will only sing back 'so long, and thanks for all the fish'.
Great post!!
ReplyDeleteBut about research, I have a feeling that just pouring money will not solve the problem. I work in the field of optical fibers, so I know for a fact that the best instrument setup for fiber manufacturing in an academic setup is situated not in MIT or the University of Southampton (the two biggest universities in optics globally), but is actually at CGCRI, Kolkata.
The real reason why our plans to improve research in India fall flat on their face, is that though well-intentioned, nobody takes into human factor. And humans as a whole are inherently flawed. I believe to truly produce extraordinary work, you either have to love that subject obsessively, almost like a stalker, or your ass has to be on fire.
We all know that the first category exists in India, and I believe their percentage among the general population is quite evenly distributed globally. Of the second, US has a long con going on for some time. It overproduces PhDs and postdocs, way above required numbers, so academic jobs are hotly contested for, and to get tenure, you really have to work hard. This not only weeds out the not-so-deserving guys, but the impetus to get tenure almost pries out good publications from faculty. While in India, we all know about the faculty crunch, or as my advisor says, if you have an American PhD, and can breathe, you will get an IIT faculty job.
Another game changing factor is the availability of postdocs in the US system. To increase R&D output in India, we must open our doors to foreign graduates, and increase graduate student compensation. Many students Africa and South Asia would gladly do a PhD in one of the IITs, while India would gain valuable goodwill too. Untill such bold and structural changes are taken, I think Indian research will always languish.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
I don't understand why there is a fuss over changing JEE pattern. At the worst it will be on the level of AIEEE. And I think top 10,000 ranks in both the exams are 80 or 90% same.
ReplyDeleteAnd if a person( a child becomes one after 12 ) want to become an engineer, and that too from India, there is not much difference whether he does it from IIT or from NIT. You have to be in top whatever the format may be,if a guy is genuinely interested in engineering, he will end up in a decent college where he will get ample opportunity to be a successful engineer. But certainly if he wants to get a good finance or consultancy job, he may not get in Not so Branded College, which certainly is not the goal of an engineering college.
And people are talking about top brains and other things. I highly doubt that IITians are sharp just because they have cleared JEE. They are brilliant as a person, not because of the Stamp. I being from an IIT, have found many fellows who somehow manages to clear JEE just to find that all they want is a good paying job. So while going for FT applications, they will say " From childhood I was interested in Mechanical Engineering. I have read all your research papers blah blah ". In finance company interviews they will say " I want to apply my analytical skills ". What does this show to us ?
The reasons for such things is the coaching system. Forget US, in countries like France, Germany, Japan etc. there is no such exam at this level, but still they go much farther than IITians, who just turn to be their SERVANTS. How come IIT boast of India's top talent, when 60% of them belongs to either FIITJEE, Kota or some Ramaiyah or like that. Even most of them belong to some particular colleges. It won't always be true that top brains hail from cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Patna, Bhopal , Madras. I think around 80-90% IITIANS come through less than 5% schools of India. What does this mean? Since other people are poor and can't manage high tution fees and unable to clear an exam should be debarred from being in best college meant to serve the Nation. At the given time such student, hailing from village, may not be at par with those English speaking Metro-er,but at the end of 4th year , he definitely will do something for his country or for his people.
And these professors will also get a good challenge. Previously they used to repeat that students quality is decreasing since 1990 ( at the time when JEE asked out of syllabus questions). Now they(professors) have to showcase their talent, and identify and nurture the real hidden talent.
Selecting 4000, from a pool of over one million interested, or 1 lac really interested is not that easy. Whether it be JEE or an simple but straightforward exam like AIEEE, each has its flaw. But at least we can appreciate that even poor are getting a chance to be in Top. Now he won't have to spend 1 lac for out of syllabus studies of Kota and FIITJEE and kill his inherent talent. He will grow slowly and steadily. And if someone argues that even poor students are represented in IITs citing example of fake factory super 30 and other seet, ask him to count the exact number, it will be less than 2-3 %. So let's be fair. Don't think that you are in the top 10 of your school in Kolkata, so you deserve to be in IIT just to get a job in Goldman Sachs, or because what if won't be able to clear it, what other classmates will think? There are even districts whose topper couldn't manage to be in IIT, not because he is not talented enough, but because of circumstances. He also has a right to prosper, to dream.
@Debangshu it boils down to money. isn't it? if the profs at IIT were paid at par with those in the best research institutes of the world and are allowed to work with the freedom that is generally allowed to the world class researchers (here there is bureaucratic red taping, politicking and other bullshit) surely they would attract the best of the researchers. However the availability of the foreign docs and post docs can definitely become the game changer because then the indian underachievers (read: I can't get a job. let me do a M.Tech/PhD at IIT) will have to compete with them to do their PhDs here
ReplyDelete@Arka highly relevant post. However why the naivety of assuming the ministry is actually interested in improving the quality of engineering and research in India. If that were their actual goal they would have tried tinkering with the Indian education system at the grassroots level, i.e. the primary education. At the primary level several things continue to befuddle me:
-why the hell do we still have these regional medium schools when except for the small minority of students who major in the regional language, everybody has to study their respective subjects in the ENGLISH medium?
-why the hell do we have some 30 boards for 30 different states which no country in the world does? How difficult can it be to abolish all boards and have one CBSE board?
-why does one HAVE to study history, geography, civics, economics, maths, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and three languages till class Xth? And what if the student has an interest in liberal arts? or dancing? or professional sports? why does he/she have to take those classes (arts, dancing, sports, etc)outside of the curriculum which imparts even more stress on him/her?
But I have never heard any politician voicing these concerns. have you?
nice say both to arka n debangshu
ReplyDelete