| Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Another season of discontent
After the CET was abolished, the process of admission to
professional colleges is again mystifying to applicants.
Tamil Nadu was known for its systematic and scientific system
of admissions to professional colleges over the years. After
scrapping the earlier marks+interview system, the State introduced
the well-planned system of Plus- Two marks + the Common Entrance
Test (CET), followed by a Single Window System of admissions
through counselling sessions. It was the envy of other States,
which soon followed suit. The whole process was computerised,
transparent and well settled.
Among the political parties, there was a gnawing feeling that
rural students could not get their due share of seats in this
process. Because of the access to special coaching and tuition
classes, students in the urban centres appeared to be doing
much better, especially in the CET. And this added value to
their overall marks. While reducing the marks in Maths, Physics,
and Chemistry (for Engineering admissions), and Biology, Physics,
and Chemistry (for medical seats) to 200, and adding on 100
marks for CET, students were given a total of 300. Once the
applications came in, a merit list of ranking of all applicants
was made and they were called for counselling in four centres
— Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, and Madurai. The admissions
were granted across the table on the networked computerised
system.
When year after year, it became clear that boys and girls in
rural areas and educationally backward regions of the State
could not get into the best colleges and courses, the State
Government decided to tinker with the system. A rural quota
was introduced, but struck down by the court. In the earlier
regime, a move to scrap CET was disallowed by the court. But
the present administration not only introduced an amending legislation,
but also offered a “normalisation process” of marking
to ensure that students from all streams of education —
State and Central boards, in addition to others — could
be ranked on a common pattern. In other words, to neutralise
the advantage that State board students got in terms of higher
marks, boys and girls from the CBSE for instance will be marked
up to a uniform standard using a formula.
Despite these steps and the expert committee recommendations
to ensure a smooth admission process, confusion persists in
the admissions this year too.
First: There are bound to be several students with the same
cut-off marks, making it difficult to rank them. So, the Government
came up with a rather controversial arrangement that will, in
the case of a tie in marks, take into account the marks in the
optional subject, the date of birth (giving preference to the
older candidate), and if everything else is the same, draw lots
for the seat. This has caused disaffection among students and
parents alike.
Second: The private self-financing colleges challenged the Government
Order on the surrender of seats to the government quota. Last
year, there was an agreement that non-minority colleges would
surrender 65 per cent of their seats to the Government, and
keep 35 per cent for their management quota. Minority institutions
will give up 50 per cent. The Government decided to retain the
same formula this year, but the colleges challenged the move.
The High Court has upheld the Government Order, but the issue
has not been settled, as the managements seem determined to
fight this to the end. There is also the question of whether
a counselling procedure needs to be followed for admissions
under the management quota.
Third: Capitation fees for the management quota seats has remained
a ticklish and controversial issue. Political parties have flayed
the Government for not cracking down on these institutions and
eliminating the system of charging exorbitant fees. The Government
on its part has made it clear that it is ready to crack down
on any institution if there is a complaint.
That remains an issue to be resolved. Which parent or student
will complain that a college asked them to cough up Rs. 2 lakh
or more for a premium seat? Nobody was forced to “buy”
that seat. If a student wants to gain admission into the Computer
Science, Electronics and Communications Engineering, or Information
Technology branch in a reputed college, there is a price to
pay. If he or she is not sure of getting the seat through the
government quota, then the management quota remains the only
option. So they “book” their seat paying anything
from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 8 lakh, depending on the college and
branch. The rate for medical seats climbs much higher as there
are very few seats on offer.
Fourth: Even on the CET, the issue has gone up to the Supreme
Court. As the apex court has made the CET the basis for admission
in at least three of its judgments on the question, it remains
to be seen how it will deal with it when the substantive issue
gets argued in due course.
This year of course, admissions will go on without a CET. At
the end of the admission season, anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000
engineering seats remain unfilled, most of them in colleges
where students do not want to study, or in courses that may
not be attractive to them. This will continue in 2007-08.
Courtesy: The Hindu - Education Plus
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