BIAS ALLEGED

Indian boards ‘downmarket’, IB students reap the benefit

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Mumbai: There’s a clear bias in schools where international boards operate out of the same building as ICSE or SSC schools. In some cases, school managements give preferential treatment to children from the international boards. Kids from these boards are also conscious of the fact that they are coughing up three times the fee that their counterparts in “downmarket’’ Indian boards pay.

For instance, SSC students at Podar International School, Santa Cruz, have suddenly been told that they cannot be issued books from the school library—they can only read books while sitting in the library. On the other hand, children from the IB school that runs in the same building are allowed to take home library books. This has caused an uproar among parents. The management, however, has completely denied this and said that all children are equally important to them.

However, while the management says that it “believes in the SSC curriculum’’, the parents aren’t convinced. Especially since they received circulars during the admission season earlier this year, giving them the option of joining the ICSE and CBSE schools run by the same management. Incidentally, TOI has information that ICSE and CBSE students were not given similar circulars during admission time, giving them the option of joining the SSC school.

At another upmarket suburban school, Jamnabai Narsee at Vile Parle, where classes for the IB section are conducted on the sixth floor, IB students are allowed to use the lift, along with the staff. The rest of the children simply walk up the stairs, even those with classes on the fifth floor.

“Kids from international boards are acutely aware that they are coughing up a fee of Rs 1 lakh compared to their counterparts from the ICSE section who only pay Rs 35,000,’’ say parents of those studying in Jamnabai. In fact, they often mock ICSE kids for being “nerds’’ who’re studying hard for a high Std X score that’ll help them get into an Indian college whereas the kids in the international board feel that an IGCSE-cum-IB qualification is a ticket to the Big Apple.

Principal Josephine Vaz, however, says she hasn’t come across any instances of snobbishness in the school.

IITs to lower bar for SC/STs even further

Hemali Chhapia | TNN

Mumbai: Directors of the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have decided to lower entry levels for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students even further to cope with the issue of reserved seats falling vacant. On Sunday, the seven heads who met in Kharagpur unanimously agreed to allow a 50% relaxation of scores for SC/ST students, up from the current 40%, for the upcoming Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) in April 2009.

With regard to the JEE-2008 scores, if the last general category student was admitted with an overall score of 172 out of 489, the aggregate cut-off for an SC/ST student was 104 (after a 40% relaxation). If the general category cut-off in 2009 is the same, the bar for SC/ST candidates would be lowered to 86 (50% of 172). Similarly, subject-wise cut-offs would also be relaxed.

This means that with the last general category student scoring 5 in maths, 0 in physics and 3 in chemistry in JEE 2008, an SC/ST student who had scored up to 40% lower—3 in maths, 0 in physics and 1.8 in chemistry—was given a seat in the IITs. Now that relaxation will also be 50%.

MERIT CUT BY 50%
This year, the score of the last general category student to be admitted was 172 (out of 489). The cut-off for an scheduled caste or scheduled tribe student was 104, or 40% lower

Next year, assuming the general category cut-off remains the same, SC/ST students with 86 marks (50% of 172) will make the cut

Also, an SC/ST student with 2.5 marks in maths, 0 in physics and 1.5 in chemistry could squeeze into the prestigious institutes.

‘Lowering standards only way to fill quota’
Mumbai: Directors of the prestigious IITs have decided to further dilute admission norms for SC/ST students. In 2009, if the general category subject cut-offs remain constant, an SC/ST student with 2.5 in maths, 0 in physics and 1.5 in chemistry would squeeze into the hallowed institutes.

IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua told TOI, “The change has been brought about keeping in mind that the intake for SC/ST students will go up over the years.’’ Not only are there more seats for the reserved category candidates because of the eight new IITs, but the 27% OBC rollout, which requires the IITs to keep their general category seats intact, will see the intake for SC/STs go up by over 50% from 2008 to 2010 (see box).

Moreover, the IITs have also informed the HRD ministry that this year’s vacant seats would be carried forward and added to next year’s total seats.

The changes do not end there. Scores will be further lowered by another 50% for reserved category students who will be taken in for the IITs’ yearlong preparatory course (86 would be further lowered to 43). This course trains quota students for a year to equip them to qualify for the IITs. “Lowering academic standards is the only way to fill so many reserved category seats,’’ said a former JEE chairman.

IIT heads have also decided to alter the manner in which students are shortlisted for the IITs. Currently, the lowest 20% students are eliminated and a minimum cut-off score is decided. However, since the last two years, these rock-bottom qualifying marks have rendered the minimum subject-wise scores to be achieved meaningless. “We have decided to change the 80:20 rule. It will be a minor change. But we will now have more rational subject-wise cutoff scores,’’ added Barua.

Lastly, the directors have decided to write to the ministry to permit them to hold JEE-2009 in Singapore too. Currently, the exam is being conducted in 117 cities. For the first time this year, JEE-2008 was conducted in Dubai.