The Indian Institutes of Technology have rejected the idea of selection through a single national admission test for all engineering colleges, says a Times of India report.
Instead, in a throwback to the earlier system of a two-stage test (2000-2004) to enter an IIT, an HRD ministry-appointed committee has come up with a plan of holding an "add-on" test to select candidates.
The interim report of the committee, which is headed by IIT-Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya and comprising IIT-Madras director M S Ananth, IIT-Bombay director Devang Khakhar and IIT-Roorkee head S C Saxena, was prepared after extensive discussion with state officials, university heads, faculty and other stakeholders nationwide.
"Scores in a well-designed National Aptitude Test should be used to capture parameters of interest such as raw intelligence, aptitude, general awareness, comprehension and written communication skills. NAT should not require extensive preparation and coaching.
The questions should be so designed that it would not require inputs beyond plus-2 level," an HRD ministry-appointed committee said in its report. The NAT high-performers will then have to clear another test to get into IITs and other top institutes. To soften stress, it has been proposed to make NAT an online test conducted throughout the year. Every students' composite weighted performance score will then be drawn up; it will be based on marks in NAT and marks each student tots up in science subjects in Class XII boards.
