Confirmation From States Important For CET- Kapil

On Monday, Kapil Sibal the Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister announced that the establishment of the Common Entrance Test (CET) for all Engineering institutes cannot take place until the states give their confirmation. Earlier a proposal for merging the IIT JEE and AIEEE and state Joint Entrance Exams had been accepted by the IIT's and the NIT's of the country but five states had initially opposed the decision based on the difference in curriculum and marking schemes between the various central and state education boards as the reason.

Sibal said that “Indian Statistical Institute has come up with a formula for calibrating the results of various state boards to equalize the results through a percentile system”. “We have a system with main and advanced papers for the exam along with board exams on which emphasis is going to be kept. The autonomy is however left to institutions that whether they would consider the main or the advanced papers or both but only emphasis on board results will be made mandatory”.

While occupying the podium at the seminar organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, harped on the idea of education being a “collaborative issue” requiring a “holistic approach” but because of “paralysis of policymakers” and “lack of flexibility” of educational bodies higher education poses a serious debacle for the future generations.

HRD Minister Sibal siad “We had put forward as many as 14 legislation’s in the parliament but they have been lying there for almost two years because nobody wants to raise them or talk about them or even put them on the agenda. India will have one third of the entire work force in the world but what will happen to these people if we cannot provide proper higher education or vocational training for them?”

He added saying that “Citing the need for skills development forged through industry and academic partnership Sibal urged the industry leaders “to be deeply involved with Education. We have had the industry frame the syllabus for the All India Council of Technical Education and I must say they have been very helpful and cooperative”.

On further query Sibal informed that the Akash is “in the testing phase” and depending” upon reaction of students” the project shall be taken forward. However, Sibal denied having any knowledge on the “credit guarantee scheme” announced by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget which promises help for needy families to attain higher education.