State hunts for JEE alternative

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, August 13, 2007

In its attempts to find an alternative for West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) the higher education ministry is studying the Tamil Nadu model and is discussing the possibility of implementing some of the points in Bengal. The state will also consider looking into the Maharashtra model before taking a final decision.
The ministry decided to find an alternative to WBJEE or fine tune it following the busting of the fake examinee racket last month. The state is trying to go for a system that so that the “teaching shops,” which coaches students for WBJEE are stopped. The system should also be transparent and give a fair chance to all candidates. The state also wants the new set up to be simple. However whether WBJEE be reformed or abolished will be decided by mid September.
The director of technical education, Sajal Dasgupta and joint secretary of technical education, Monotosh Biswas was sent to Tamil Nadu to see how the students are admitted in various professional courses after Class XII without any entrance exam. Maharastra on the other hand was already admitting students in professional courses after their Class XII tests, but has introduced JEE from this year. The state now wants to find out why Maharastra opted for a change.
From 2005, Tamil Nadu has discontinued the Common Entrance Test (CET) and are admitting students in professional courses like B.E, B.Tech, B.Arch and allied courses, M.B.B.S, B.D.S, B.Pharm and allied courses on the basis of marks obtained in Class XII board exam. The then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, chose to change the system because she thought he CET had become traumatic for the rural students.
The process is simple, all boards including the state are asked to submit the highest marks obtained in each subject. Then the marks obtained by the applicants are converted into percentile and the students are offered seats as per rank.
The state higher education minister, Sudarsan Raychaudhuri, has been briefed about the Tamil Nadu model. Speaking to Hindustan Times, he said, “We need some more clarification before I make any comment.”
The state higher education department has liked the counseling system followed in Tamil Nadu. While in Bengal, the students taking WBJEE are merely allotted seats during the counseling session, in Tamil Nadu all students are given computers where they can give their preference and see which seats are getting filled by students who have a higher score. The system according to the ministry is transparent. However, there is a negative side —there are court cases pending in Tamil Nadu.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com