Not so long ago the central government announced that the other-states quota has been abolished from the admission into NITs. The reason behind this was that less talented and less deserving candidates from other states have made it into the NITs through this quota leaving better candidates high and dry. It is true that this has been the case with some states. But what this brought to the NITs and its students is a great diversity. There were students from all parts of the nation- Assam, Sikkim, Kashmir, Andaman, Gujarat etc.- and the students who made it in from these states were among the best talents. Only in very few cases were these students below par. As a student who has just come out of NIT, Trichy I believe that the peer group of which I was a part- NRIs, students from most other states and several from my very own school and city- was excellent and my learnings from the institute and the people who studied with me can be matched by no other place.
But soon all that is set to change, since from now on there shall be a 50% quota for the state in which the particular NIT resides and the remaining 50% shall be admitted through only on an All India Rank basis irrespective of which state the student hails from. Has the government not noticed or does it just choose not to notice that a majority of the top rank holders(AIR Top 1000) come from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and that this quota is only going to result in the loss of the great diversity that the NITs have been boasting of. What is even more funny is the case of NIT Warrangal, which is situated in Andhra Pradesh and hence will have a 50% quota for its students. The remaining 50% will also comprise mostly of students from the same state especially because it is the state which is able to produce the ranks. I guess simple math will result in NIT Warrangal effectively ending up with 100% state quota. This is not to say that the students from Andhra and Rajasthan who are performing well are are not worthy candidates, but I would like to stress that those students who are performing well in both their Board examinations and are able to cough up excellent ranks in these competitive entrance tests don't get their due.
A close look at the candidates from Andhra and Rajasthan will show you that more than 70% of them are at least a year or two older than the normal candidate and that they have been doing nothing else but prepare for these entrance tests after finishing their high school. This is what led to the IITs placing an upper cap on the number of attempts that people could give for the IIT JEE. Several reports have come in over the last decade or so claiming that many of these students from Andhra and Rajasthan have not been able to cope with the competition at the IITs and have buckled under pressure. Now that this new quota regulation has been impressed upon the NITs also, it is only going to dilute the quality of students and hamper the fast growing status of the former Regional Engineering Colleges(RECs).
I truly believe that the batch that was admitted last year into the NITs will be the most luckiest, since they are likely to be the last batch with the most diverse student population in their batch. As mentioned earlier, it has several advantages like bringing together people from all parts of the country. The bonding among students goes just beyond caste and religion. It is a period in their lives when we learn anything and everything. And being part of such a diverse group only enhances the cultural learning and brings to light the several values that people from various parts of the nation nourish and cherish.
I am sure that I echo the sentiments of many other students when it comes to all these matters because there is not a single student I know, who has spoken in support of this move by the government. Taking a closer peak at all this only makes me think more on the political lines. Why the hell is this ruling government taking atrocious steps with the sole aim of winning more votes for the upcoming elections! I believe I am very lucky to be out of the system before it was pushed down to such levels by the HRD ministry.
I started off writing this blog after reading the new quota system(SC/ST/OBC) being introduced in the IITs for the faculty. But I shall hold that topic for discussion on a later date. For now I think it is something we should all think about. Do we want this continuing to happen??
But soon all that is set to change, since from now on there shall be a 50% quota for the state in which the particular NIT resides and the remaining 50% shall be admitted through only on an All India Rank basis irrespective of which state the student hails from. Has the government not noticed or does it just choose not to notice that a majority of the top rank holders(AIR Top 1000) come from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and that this quota is only going to result in the loss of the great diversity that the NITs have been boasting of. What is even more funny is the case of NIT Warrangal, which is situated in Andhra Pradesh and hence will have a 50% quota for its students. The remaining 50% will also comprise mostly of students from the same state especially because it is the state which is able to produce the ranks. I guess simple math will result in NIT Warrangal effectively ending up with 100% state quota. This is not to say that the students from Andhra and Rajasthan who are performing well are are not worthy candidates, but I would like to stress that those students who are performing well in both their Board examinations and are able to cough up excellent ranks in these competitive entrance tests don't get their due.
A close look at the candidates from Andhra and Rajasthan will show you that more than 70% of them are at least a year or two older than the normal candidate and that they have been doing nothing else but prepare for these entrance tests after finishing their high school. This is what led to the IITs placing an upper cap on the number of attempts that people could give for the IIT JEE. Several reports have come in over the last decade or so claiming that many of these students from Andhra and Rajasthan have not been able to cope with the competition at the IITs and have buckled under pressure. Now that this new quota regulation has been impressed upon the NITs also, it is only going to dilute the quality of students and hamper the fast growing status of the former Regional Engineering Colleges(RECs).
I truly believe that the batch that was admitted last year into the NITs will be the most luckiest, since they are likely to be the last batch with the most diverse student population in their batch. As mentioned earlier, it has several advantages like bringing together people from all parts of the country. The bonding among students goes just beyond caste and religion. It is a period in their lives when we learn anything and everything. And being part of such a diverse group only enhances the cultural learning and brings to light the several values that people from various parts of the nation nourish and cherish.
I am sure that I echo the sentiments of many other students when it comes to all these matters because there is not a single student I know, who has spoken in support of this move by the government. Taking a closer peak at all this only makes me think more on the political lines. Why the hell is this ruling government taking atrocious steps with the sole aim of winning more votes for the upcoming elections! I believe I am very lucky to be out of the system before it was pushed down to such levels by the HRD ministry.
I started off writing this blog after reading the new quota system(SC/ST/OBC) being introduced in the IITs for the faculty. But I shall hold that topic for discussion on a later date. For now I think it is something we should all think about. Do we want this continuing to happen??
7 comments:
Factual Error :)
Warangal will have 50% Gult quota. The rest will be non-gult. Andhra candidates won't be considered for the seats under the all india category. Doesn't make sense if they are allowed. lol
and yes. I agree with your viewpoint of the diversity aspect.
God save NIT.
ECE is going to suck. lol. With all AIR high rankers. Suckage.
lol ya man... imagine some 20 Miriyala Aravinds in there... all hell is gonna break lose...
The political angle is perhaps not the major thing to look at, since favoritism to the few is not the baton that will yield the big results.
I doubt if the government has anything bigger than oil on its head, at the moment.
I think its time, the colleges consider the manoeuvre to be implemented in a phased manner, perhaps in the new institutes they plan to set up/have set up. The imbalance, and the lingual shift are definitely going to hamper the lack of communication downward from the management to the students.
Also of immediate concern is the slew of changes in order in the coming year, there is reservation being phased in very uneasily, there are new institutes being set up, there are accreditation measures being revised, then this fiddling around with the quotas- a hodge podge of schemes,and no one will know what might affect for the worse. It is better to analyse different things separately, and test it over time, to understand what really works.
Perhaps a better way to go about it is to have a topper's quota or something, in every institute set apart for these students of high calibre- we can carve that fraction out of an excessive representation the home state enjoys.
We could definitely do with a few more miriyalas, not hordes of them.
Perhaps also to blame are the absolute lack of statistics and figures backing any decision- the reservation committee sets up quota without any consideration of the actual population strata and size they represent.
Perhaps, it is time, the government looks at the basics too-takes into account the performance of students in their respective boards- easier said than done of course since there is a yawning gap detween the standards set by the various boards. Also of crucial importance is communication skills- it is encouraging to see some private institiues recognise it and are testing students with language ability tests. It can quite easily be forgotten that language still plays the major role in anything beyond the B.Tech, and we shall do well, not to.
While I shall not completely look away from this proposal, which does try to address a growing and worrying imbalance between performance and admission, I of course do not agree completely to the "open gates to top rankers" philosophy.
So, all in all, I think its too prelimnary and facile a solution to say either extreme is bad.
Its an imbroglio in there, and am just happy I am out of it! :)
It took a really long time for me to go through all the posts especially the one by prashanth (which i understood only after going through it twice!).
I just want to present one viewpoint missing here.
Just try to answer one question. If a person has got AIR 100 and couldn't get a seat in desired branch, do u really think its just? Do u think he will be so open-minded to think that he
had to sacrifice for the sake of diversity? And the most important thing, if u are in such a position, will u think positively about the state quota procedure?
One more point. I think solution to the problem of people repeating a year to secure a seat in better college could be to limit the number of attempts as iits did, rather than continuing state quota. And also one should understand how difficult it is to repeat a year just for attaining a better seat. Rather than trying to solve the problem round about way, just remove it permanently by improving the quality of other engineering colleges. Then any sensible person wouldn't waste another year.
One more point i would like to rise is how come iits did so well without state quota. Its only this year, they have removed state quota. Its better to wait and watch rather than commenting prematurely.
No hard feelings guys. I wanted to raise few more points, but since this is just a comment, I shall stop here.
I am agree that removing state quota will dilute diversity... but i want to ask one Q. is it really wise to have diversity in trade of Quality??. i am agree that with the vats point that good ranker are 1 or 2 year droper but state kota is not only the solution for that. we can have other solution to remove that like no of attempt in AIEEE. or if you are thinking that GPA it true evalution of Quality in student then sorry i am not agree with your point....And how does IITs performing well with AIR quota...
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