(a) whether the Government had introduced top 20 percentile system / cut-off / new format for IIT selection in 2013;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has received a number of requests from various States including Andhra Pradesh to review the above system and if so, the details thereof State-wise; and
(d) the steps taken by the Government to address the issue?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) & (b) : Yes, Madam. A new system of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) was introduced in 2013 for admissions into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad. The JEE now consists of two examinations, viz, JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced). The top 1.5 lakh candidates (including all categories) based on their performance in the JEE (Main) qualify to appear in the JEE (Advanced) examination. Admissions to IITs are based only on category-wise All India Rank in JEE (Advanced), subject to the condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful candidates in class XII examinations conducted by their respective Boards in applicable categories.
(c) : Yes, Madam. Two requests were received in the Ministry from Members of Parliament belonging to Andhra Pradesh. Some petitions were also filed in various High Courts in the country which now stand transferred to the Supreme Court of India.
(d) : The government examined these representations and internally reviewed the issues raised therein. It was realized that the information concerning calculation of percentile for JEE 2013 was widely publicized through Newspapers, websites of JEE (Main) as well as JEE (Advanced) from August, 2012. This information was also provided in the information brochure for candidates appearing in JEE (Advanced). However, some School Boards computed and displayed “the top 20 percentile cut off” for their Boards. But, their calculation was based on the number of candidates who appeared in their examination rather than those who were successful in the examination. This difference between the top 20 percentile cut-off based on appeared and successful candidates created confusion among some students. Since, the percentile based on students successful is higher than the percentile based on students appeared in the 12th examination, a few students did not qualify the top 20 percentile cut-off criterion due to this confusion. In view of this, it was decided to generate greater awareness about the percentile system.
The percentile system is a good basis of comparing different Boards and is non-discriminatory. Since different Boards evaluate differently, the percentiles criterion takes into account the variations in examinations conducted by different Boards. As it is applied uniformly to all the candidates, the question of meritorious students getting affected does not arise.