IIT-Madras director, M S Ananth said, by attending the IIT coaching classes, students were learning a wrong lesson that the ends justify the means. "They (students) think there is nothing wrong in missing school to attend coaching. But the student does not realize his real loss."
Ananth recalled that three years ago, a JEE review committee had suggested a cut-off of 85% marks in the Class XII board exam for students to be eligible for the JEE. "But the CBSE and other boards turned it down and wanted to have 60% as the cut-off. Now, that's an easy score to get," he said.
While acknowledging that the JEE has led to proliferation of coaching classes and has put students under stress, IIT-Bombay director, Ashok Misra, was more cautious on bringing in wholesale changes. "If we can develop another system that is not overhyped, I am for it. But doing away with the JEE does not seem appropriate at present. We have been constantly working on tweaking the JEE as per the students' needs and also to cut down on pressure," he said. Evidently, we haven't heard the last word on this issue.
