While I was doing my engineering from Roorkee, we had one guy who was quite special. Let’s call him AT.
He hailed from a remote village near Munger, Bihar – was quite bad in English. And never ever wore shoes before joining the engineering college.
AT had a tough time initially – right from developing major itching / eczema because of shoes to being bullied by several folks (as part of ragging).
But then he survived. And did damn well.
And today? Well, AT works for NASA and leads a very interesting project over there.
That’s what a great college can do to you.
And that’s what a ‘democratic’ selection process can do to one’s career, if the person has ambition.
Yes, a democratic selection process which doesn’t really care about your economic background, your caste, religion, your parents’ financial status. And I have seen several such ATs during and post my engineering college and the more I meet such fellas, the more I have feel great about the opportunities this country provides.
It is 2017 and Joint Admission Board (JAB) has announced that the IIT entrance test will completely go online from 2018.
Which means it’s not just a test of your subject skills, but also your computer skills.
On an average, to get to a point where you are totally comfortable with computer (like a pro) – my guess is that you need a minimum of 300 hours practice (not just the computer, but OS versions/keyboard/mouse etc etc).
How are rural kids going to compete now? Close to 50% of IIT JEE applicants are from rural background.
Last year’s JEE-Mains, a preliminary exam to the JEE-Advanced, was conducted both offline and online. According to expert estimates, just 5-10% students opted then to take the test online (via).
How are rural kids going to practice? Who is going to give them computers to practice?
Are we making an elite institute of technology? Agree that online can bring down errors, but hey! let’s not screw the entire system just because there are inefficiencies in the system.
We need more AT(s) to come from rural parts of the country and follow their dreams. The democratic system provided a level playground, but going online is NOT.
It skews the probability of success in favor of Snapchattish kids.
This is just suicidal. BY doing this, we are distancing quality education from deserving candidates and destroying the very basic foundation the IIT brand, the institution stood for.
From the archive: Last wishes before putting the IIT JEE on the electric chair.
