Weaker Students Can Leave IITs Early!

New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are reported to be working on an ‘early exit’ plan for weaker students who are unable to cope with the syllabus.

As per the proposal, a B.Tech student can leave the course after three years with a B.Sc degree in engineering, news reports said on Thursday. The scheme could come up for discussion at the IIT council meeting on Friday, to be chaired by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Earlier this year, the government had informed Parliament that 2,461 B.Tech and M.Tech students had dropped out of IIT during the last two years. IIT Delhi recorded 782 dropouts and Kharagpur 622.

“The objective is to enable such students to walk out with a B.Sc degree in engineering instead of going empty-handed and losing three precious years,” an IIT professor told Education Bytes.

These students can be identified from the first year itself and put in the B.Sc programme. The details of the programme are being finalised.

Every year, close to nine lakh students sit for the JEE exams, out of whom only 13,000 make it to the 23 IITs after qualifying in the IIT-Advanced test.

The professor said during the first two semesters, a student’s IQ level can be well-read. Special attention is put to such students in a few of the campuses. But it does not always work. Weak students usually succumb to the high level of stress, unable to cope with the rigorous academics, he said.

Indian Express has reported that the council meeting on Friday could also discuss a new financial model and restructuring of the tuition fee. The objective will be aimed towards attaining financial autonomy. Students could be charged tuition fee based on the actual cost of the institute. The government could directly offer scholarships to fund the students. The report said the tuition fee under the plan could go up to Rs 7 lakh from the existing Rs 2 lakh. The block grant received from the government, in such case, would be done away with.