RTI Happenings: IITs to make JEE answer papers public

[Sajib Nandi]

Reported by Prashant K. Nanda in Livemint.com on May 3 2012
IITs to make JEE answer papers public - Home - livemint.com

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will display online the answer papers of all candidates who appear for the joint entrance examination (JEE) before the final ranking is prepared to make the process transparent, starting with the test that took place last month.

The answer sheets of all the 480,000 candidates who sat for the exam seeking a berth in the prestigious engineering and technology institutes will be uploaded on 5 May, G.B. Reddy, JEE chairman, said on Wednesday. The results and ranks will be announced on 18 May.

“The move will be a key step in bringing transparency in high-stake entrance exams and improve the trust of students and parents in the IIT system,” Reddy said.

The test answers will be uploaded by the IITs and JEE Thursday, while the optical response sheets (ORS), or answer papers, will be on display from 5 May by the IITs and JEE. Students can download their answer papers after registering on the respective websites.

“If any individual students has any complaints about his answer paper, then he/she can file a complaint online between May 5 and May 10,” IIT Delhi director R.K. Shevgaonkar said. IIT Delhi is the organizing IIT for JEE this time. If a student complains of any discrepancy in the marks awarded, then the respective answer paper will be verified manually before 15 May. “After the rechecking is done, we will put out the final result/ranks on the pre-decided date,” the director said. “IIT-JEE is evolving and we would try to be as transparent as possible.”

Reddy said the decision was taken by the 13-member joint implementation committee of the IITs.

In August 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that examination answer sheets must be made public under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A bench comprising justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik dismissed petitions filed by various public examination agencies, while upholding a 2009 judgement of the Calcutta high court on this issue.

The ruling followed an appeal in the apex court by the Central Board of Secondary Education, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, the University of Calcutta, the West Bengal School Service Commission and the Assam Public Service Commission against the high court’s order, Mint reported on 9 August last year. The voluntary move by the IITs is the first by any leading institute, said S.M. Ishtiaque, deputy director, administration, IIT Delhi.

At last month’s entrance exam, students were allowed to take a “carbon copy of the answer sheet after they gave the entrance exam and now we are giving them the evaluated answer papers containing all details about which question has secured how much marks”.

Students welcomed the move and the prospect of seeing their mark sheets before the final ranking is announced. “Technically, by 3 May, we will know how we have done in the exam and by 5 May, the answer paper will be in our hand. This gives a lot of peace of mind,” said Rajiv Kumar, an IIT aspirant.

While the move towards transparency will be a model for all public exam conducting bodies, it gives the IITs a chance to defend JEE against any possible attempt by the government to dilute the test’s stature as it bids to establish a common entrance exam for all engineering colleges across India.

“Going by the track record of the IITs, it’s better to keep the JEE to maintain quality. The opposition has been conveyed by respective IITs to the HRD (human resource development) ministry. The individual IIT senates are now debating the issue,” said a member of the IIT Delhi faculty who did not want to be named. Mint reported on the IIT-ministry tussle on 17 April.

Shevgaonkar said there was no disagreement with the central government but there are concerns over the new format proposed by the government that tentatively is to come into existence in 2013.

He said this left little time for making such a change as the IITs generally give two years’ notice before altering the format. Also, it will be difficult for all school boards to publish their results before the IIT-JEE as a default by even a single board can affect the entrance exam, Shevgaonkar said. The school board result is important as the HRD ministry wants the IITs to give a 40% weight for the Class 12 marks while preparing their merit list.

“To bring a common entrance in 2013 looks difficult,” the director added. He said the IIT senates will put forth a fresh proposal to the ministry by 10 May.

Both the faculty and IIT alumni associations are opposing the plan to do away with JEE and have a common entrance test.

[lissing perme]

Sponsorer

Great move!!!! Other examining body should learn something from this move.Even if they do not follow Suo Motu disclose they should disclosed the same when any citizen called for that.