Speaking in Parliament, the Ministry of Education Subhas Sarkar said many renowned institutions, including the IIT-Madras, have introduced higher education courses to which admission could be secured without appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). He said this while responding to questions raised by MP Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu on coaching centres financially exploiting students, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
Further, the minister said, on completing Class XII, students could take admission to courses including the Bachelor of Science (BS) at IITs and IIMs by completing a qualifier process spanning four weeks. The response by Minister Subhas Sarkar came after MP Dr Kanimozhi raised concerns about the steps taken by the union government to tackle coaching centre-driven burnouts faced by students, despite which students — both from rural and urban backgrounds — fail to secure admission.
Read Also : Father of deceased IIT B student Darshan Solanki writes to CM alleging harassment from police
Replying to this, the MoS said, "The National Education Policy 2020 focuses on regular formative assessment for learning. This would replace the summative assessment method which promotes the coaching culture. In line with this, the Ministry of Education has launched the Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), Prabha, which has a dedicated Free-To-Air DTH Channel (IIT- PAL) meant for Class XI and Class XII students."
"The SATHEE (Self Assessment, Test and Help for Entrance Exams) portal has been operational since April 2022, and it has been imparting web-based coaching for IIT-JEE and NEET entrance exams in English, Hindi and ten regional languages," he said.
