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Why many IITians fail to cope with the curriculum after clearing entrance
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...get&utm_medium=Int_Ref&utm_campaign=TOI_AShow
NEW DELHI: The exit of 73 students from the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee because of poor grades has come as a rude shock, contrasting sharply with the typically celebratory narrative around the country's premier engineering schools. But IITs across the country point out that this is merely reflective of a bigger problem that's been building up over the past few years —increasing number of students unable to cope with the curriculum.
The coaching factories are prime suspects for the drop in quality but exhaustion and family pressure also play key roles. IITs take series of steps to help the struggling students.
Despite these efforts, almost all of them are forced to nudge poor performers out of the system.
IITs, both old and new, blame much of this on the cram schools that prepare students for the admission test, such as those in Kota, Rajasthan. "The average standard of students is going down," said Manindra Agrawal, dean of faculty affairs at IIT-Kanpur, one of the older schools. "Primarily, it is due to the spoon-feeding by the coaching institutes to crack the entrance exam."
COACHING PRACTICES
To be sure, IIT-Roorkee's faculty is still trying to understand why the number of expulsions shot up to this extent—an 18-fold jump from four last year. But director Pradipta Banerji feels it would be wrong to put the onus of responsibility on the students.
"The students are not to be blamed as they have been coached by the coaching institutes just to crack the JEE (joint entrance exam) rather than focusing on knowledge," said director Pradipta Banerji.
Akash Keshav Singh, now at IITGandhinagar, went to Kota to prepare for the entrance exam. The Rajasthan town has become famous for being home to dozens of coaching schools dedicated to this. The prevailing environment is intense, he said.
"We were expected to study for about 15 hours a day," Singh said. "There was always a fear of losing the seat at this institute (the coaching school) if we did not fare well in the assessments. There was always constant pressure from the institute and society to perform. But I am glad now that I could crack the exam." Does this drop in quality mean that the selection system needs to be changed? While the process has undergone several changes in the past few years, more needs to be done, said Rohin Kapoor, education practice director at Deloitte India.
"The entrance exam system followed by the IITs is old and archaic," he said. "It is high time that this system should evolve and broaden to include subjective questioning, psychometric tests and case study evaluation."
WHAT IITS ARE DOING
Are the IITs doing enough to make sure weak students don't fall through the cracks? The schools say they are. Expulsions are the last resort after a series of interventions aimed at trying to get poor performers to improve. These include warnings, getting parents involved, peer group counselling and special assistance. "There are enormous efforts made and help provided by IITs before terminating these students," said Rajendra Singh, dean, undergraduate studies, IIT-Kharagpur. "We even tell our students to take a break for a year and then come back to join the course." The school asked four students to leave last year for poor grades. IIT-Kanpur has also been weeding out students who don't make the cut. "Despite bringing the minimum requirement to pass further down, we still land up expelling about 10 students every year," Agrawal said.
IIT-Delhi sees seven-eight students exiting every year. "With the number of IITs going up and the old IITs expanding more seats, there is a huge gap in the merit of the top students compared to the students at the bottom," said Anurag Sharma, dean of academics at IIT-Delhi.
PRESSURE TACTICS
Family and peer pressure also play in role in forcing students with little aptitude to join the IITs. "There are many such students who have entered the IITs with zero interest in engineering. This is another category of students that quickly exits," said IIT-Gandhinagar director Sudhir Jain. One such person left after being pressured by his family to enter the school. He's now looking to pursue an acting career.
Stress and mental exhaustion are other reasons why some students can't cope. After two-three years of relentless studying to get into an IIT, many just don't have the energy to handle studies. "The students are almost burnt out when they enter IITs," said IIT-Roorkee's Banerji.
"They have been coached and pushed by parents even though they may not have the aptitude for engineering. As a result of rote learning, the analytical skills of these students have drastically fallen."
RL Trikha, director of FIITJEE, said his entrance coaching schools impart a holistic education, but admitted that some coaching institutes aren't following this method.
"There are many coaching institutes that literally lock up students for months," he said. "It is a process of cramming that is followed there. This results in wrong students getting selected. These students are trained only to crack the exam." FIITJEE has 25,000 on its rolls, he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...get&utm_medium=Int_Ref&utm_campaign=TOI_AShow
NEW DELHI: The exit of 73 students from the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee because of poor grades has come as a rude shock, contrasting sharply with the typically celebratory narrative around the country's premier engineering schools. But IITs across the country point out that this is merely reflective of a bigger problem that's been building up over the past few years —increasing number of students unable to cope with the curriculum.
The coaching factories are prime suspects for the drop in quality but exhaustion and family pressure also play key roles. IITs take series of steps to help the struggling students.
Despite these efforts, almost all of them are forced to nudge poor performers out of the system.
IITs, both old and new, blame much of this on the cram schools that prepare students for the admission test, such as those in Kota, Rajasthan. "The average standard of students is going down," said Manindra Agrawal, dean of faculty affairs at IIT-Kanpur, one of the older schools. "Primarily, it is due to the spoon-feeding by the coaching institutes to crack the entrance exam."
COACHING PRACTICES
To be sure, IIT-Roorkee's faculty is still trying to understand why the number of expulsions shot up to this extent—an 18-fold jump from four last year. But director Pradipta Banerji feels it would be wrong to put the onus of responsibility on the students.
"The students are not to be blamed as they have been coached by the coaching institutes just to crack the JEE (joint entrance exam) rather than focusing on knowledge," said director Pradipta Banerji.
Akash Keshav Singh, now at IITGandhinagar, went to Kota to prepare for the entrance exam. The Rajasthan town has become famous for being home to dozens of coaching schools dedicated to this. The prevailing environment is intense, he said.
"We were expected to study for about 15 hours a day," Singh said. "There was always a fear of losing the seat at this institute (the coaching school) if we did not fare well in the assessments. There was always constant pressure from the institute and society to perform. But I am glad now that I could crack the exam." Does this drop in quality mean that the selection system needs to be changed? While the process has undergone several changes in the past few years, more needs to be done, said Rohin Kapoor, education practice director at Deloitte India.
"The entrance exam system followed by the IITs is old and archaic," he said. "It is high time that this system should evolve and broaden to include subjective questioning, psychometric tests and case study evaluation."
WHAT IITS ARE DOING
Are the IITs doing enough to make sure weak students don't fall through the cracks? The schools say they are. Expulsions are the last resort after a series of interventions aimed at trying to get poor performers to improve. These include warnings, getting parents involved, peer group counselling and special assistance. "There are enormous efforts made and help provided by IITs before terminating these students," said Rajendra Singh, dean, undergraduate studies, IIT-Kharagpur. "We even tell our students to take a break for a year and then come back to join the course." The school asked four students to leave last year for poor grades. IIT-Kanpur has also been weeding out students who don't make the cut. "Despite bringing the minimum requirement to pass further down, we still land up expelling about 10 students every year," Agrawal said.
IIT-Delhi sees seven-eight students exiting every year. "With the number of IITs going up and the old IITs expanding more seats, there is a huge gap in the merit of the top students compared to the students at the bottom," said Anurag Sharma, dean of academics at IIT-Delhi.
PRESSURE TACTICS
Family and peer pressure also play in role in forcing students with little aptitude to join the IITs. "There are many such students who have entered the IITs with zero interest in engineering. This is another category of students that quickly exits," said IIT-Gandhinagar director Sudhir Jain. One such person left after being pressured by his family to enter the school. He's now looking to pursue an acting career.
Stress and mental exhaustion are other reasons why some students can't cope. After two-three years of relentless studying to get into an IIT, many just don't have the energy to handle studies. "The students are almost burnt out when they enter IITs," said IIT-Roorkee's Banerji.
"They have been coached and pushed by parents even though they may not have the aptitude for engineering. As a result of rote learning, the analytical skills of these students have drastically fallen."
RL Trikha, director of FIITJEE, said his entrance coaching schools impart a holistic education, but admitted that some coaching institutes aren't following this method.
"There are many coaching institutes that literally lock up students for months," he said. "It is a process of cramming that is followed there. This results in wrong students getting selected. These students are trained only to crack the exam." FIITJEE has 25,000 on its rolls, he said.
