Govt sets up panel to suggest improvement in IIT JEE

The government today set up a committee to suggest reforms in the IIT entrance examination but did not take any decision on the proposed fee hike in the elite institutes.

At a brainstorming session on IITs, chaired by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, a committee was set up under IIT Kharagpur Director Prof Damodar Acharya to study the existing JEE structure and suggest improvement in it.

The committee will submit its report in three months, a Human Resource Development Ministry official said. It is expected to suggest on how to consider the Class XII marks of students while preparing the cutoff for the admission into these 15 elite institutes.

At present, the IITs are taking students on the basis of cutoff prepared in view of the marks scored by students in IIT Joint Entrance Examination. Consideration of Class XII marks in the cut-off would ensure that meritorious students get into the IIT stream.

The meeting, attended by the IIT directors and chairmen, however, did not take any decision on the proposal to increase the tuition fee of students to make the institutes self-sufficient.

Sibal suggested that as the government is planning to set up a Higher Education Funding Corporation, which would provide assistance to poor students. The proposal on fee hike would be discussed after the corporation is set up.