IITs today do more harm than good

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 08 August 2008, 23:51 IST
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Bangalore: Now even IITians are no exception. Students who are coming out of the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) are finding themselves as mediocre when they meet with the corporate reality, says a director at one of the premier IITs in the country. Thanks to the mushrooming coaching centers that can groom anybody to write any entrance tests,including IIT's. "I am looking for students with raw intelligence and not those with a mind prepared by coaching class tutors. The coaching classes only help students in mastering question paper or pattern recognizing skills. By attending the IIT coaching classes, students were learning a wrong lesson that the ends justify the means," IIT-Madras director, M S Ananth was quoted as saying by Times of India. There have been reports of IIT students committing suicide both while being inside the campus and after coming out of the institute with a job in hand. Ego clashes that emerges when toppers of different colleges realize that they are no more a topper here but equally talented fellows have contributed a lot to the campus suicides. And also the students who got into the institutes with the help of coaching center come out just to realize that they have not learned anything that enable them to cop up with corporate demands. They find no choice but succumb to pressure. Meenal Nalwaya, a graduate from IIT Delhi, feels that students in the campus have mostly had a good academic record. They develop a habit of seeing themselves at the top anywhere and everywhere. But the platform in IIT is very different. "Everyone here is equally competent, which leads to unwanted tension," she says. The Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) are designed to test the knowledge of the candidates and those who clear them are considered as the brightest. But many put blame on the selection procedure at IITs as the mediocre students that eventually come out of the prestigious IITs today do more harm than good. Alok and Gaurav Khanna, both graduated from IIT Delhi, say that the entrance pattern is to blame. The exam is mostly objective and anyone, who works hard enough can clear it. But life in the campus is not so easy. "Sometimes we realize that even sharp students become slack in the campus and do not fare well in the exams leading to various mental problems. Even the brightest student becomes complacent and thus finds himself in a complicated position," adds Alok. But most of the IIT graduates say that abolishing the coaching classes would have been ideal but it is an impractical thought since this culture has penetrated deep into the society.