A Special IIT Council Meeting Called On 27th June

The central Government has called up for a special IIT Council meeting on the 27th June, Wednesday in order to resolve the issues of students after IIT-Kanpur (IIT-K) and IIT-Delhi (IIT-D) announced to hold their own exams.

The main issue for the discussion includes whether the CET should be deferred to 2014 or not. Other highlights of the special meeting will include fallout of the decision taken by the 2 IIT's, solutions to break the deadlock and resolve the uncertainty situation faced by the students.

The IIT's are opposing the proposed format expressing that the new test will only increase mental pressure of the students rather than decreasing it. IIT's are also against conducting two-tier tests proposed by the ministry. The IIT's are demanding not to include class 12 board marks in CET and also to postpone the exam to 2014.

The IIT's are arguing that the students aspiring to get into IIT's start their preparation 2-3 years before the exam. So students who are planning to appear for the test in 2013 would have begun their preparation considering the older format and now making changes in the format will create stress for them.

Other major issues to be discussed include the autonomy that the IIT Council and senates will retain. As per the IIT faculty, all discussions related to admissions should be taken by the senate. The Institutes of Technology Act-1961 states that the IIT council is final decision maker in admission related matters. The senate has no role to play in setting admission standards. The IIT senate has control over only a particular institute and not the entire IIT system.

Based on the meeting held on 23rd June, it is expected that IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Bombay may also follow their Kanpur and Delhi Counterparts. However, the meeting aims at resolving the situation created by the proposed new format and future plan of action to end up the uncertainty created among the students.