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Latest News |
| 06th
February 2010 / Times of India / Mumbai Edition |
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 HRD min bats for common entrance exams
Mumbai: Call it Part II of the education reforms sweeping across the country. The government is in the midst of charting a road map for the future course of education.
After CBSE announced plans to make board exams optional after building consensus for the decision across the country, union minister for human resources development Kapil Sibal is in the process of garnering consensus for his other pet projects, which include a common entrance exam for all students applying to college as well as a creditsbased system in college. The system would give students pursuing one stream an exit option if they decide midway that they would rather pursue another stream. Both these practices are currently in place in countries such as the US.
At present, colleges in India have a tough time comparing the marks scored by students at the various different educations boards. The Maharashtra government has tried, albeit unsuccessfully, since the past two years to introduce a system of normalising the marks scored by SSC, ICSE and CBSE students and putting them all on one common platform.
The idea of introducing a common entrance exam for college, which would test their aptitude and not knowledge alone, was mooted by Sibal at a round table conference with heads of schools and colleges in Delhi last week. There was a general consensus amongst all those present about the need for a broad-based system of college admissions. A great deal of time was also spent on discussing the need for a credits-based system.
A credits-based system gives students a great deal of flexibility when it comes to choosing subjects. Such a system will not restrict students to one particular stream alone and will give them the freedom to study subjects in more than one discipline, said Avnita Bir, principal of RN Podar School, Santa Cruz, who was present for the round table discussion in Delhi last week.
WISH LIST
Union minister for HRD Kapil Sibal is in the process of garnering consensus for a common entrance exam for all students applying to college
Sibal is also keen on a credits-based system in college. It would give students pursuing one stream an exit option if they decide, midway, to pursue another stream.
Both these practices are currently in place in countries such as the US
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