12-01-2008, 02:01 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Now, âbackwardâ pupils in IIT seek extra tuition</b>
Abraham Thomas | New Delhi
The Centre is beginning to feel the pinch of its policy on reservations. Having added 27 per cent OBC quota to the list of those receiving reservation benefits previously available only to SC/ST students in central educational institutions including the IITs and IIMs, there is now a demand from reserved category students for extra coaching to ensure they become as competent as their general category counterparts.
<b>Six students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi who were ousted for their poor academic record in the first year of studies, have challenged the instituteâs decision demanding that owing to their background tag, the IIT must take responsibility to provide them additional facility by way of extra classes and coaching to make them capable of keeping abreast with the high quality of academic teaching.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
This plea forms part of a petition filed by the expelled students before the Supreme Court. A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan has issued notice to the Union Ministry for Human Resources Development and IIT Delhi seeking their response to the same.
It was by a communication dated May 21 this year that the admission of the six first-year students of B Tech course in IIT-D stood cancelled. A subsequent order by the IIT Registrar on June 2 declared the students be struck off the rolls of the institute.
<b>According to the institute rules, a general category student is required to earn a minimum of 20 credits in the first year for promotion to the next year.
For a reserved category student, this threshold is 16. If a student fails to obtain the requisite credits, he is expelled from the institute. As the candidate progresses in the course, the qualification criteria get stricter as in the second year the benchmark is set at 50 credits for general category students and 46 for reserved category students.</b>
It was the case of the institute that the students failed to obtain the requisite marks as a result of which they were expelled. But the petitioner students do not want to call it quits yet. In a petition filed through advocate DK Garg, the students cited the practice followed in IITs other than Delhi, <b>which entitles a weak student to continue under a "Slow Track Programme," a provision for students who fail to clear subjects in first and second year to continue with the course without being expelled.</b>
Delhi IIT does not provide this arrangement, which is now being challenged by the students as an arbitrary measure by the institute to deprive reserved category students of reservation benefits.
Questioning the lack of any similar scheme in the Delhi wing, the petitioners argued,<b> "What is the use of providing reservation in higher education when no facility is provided to SC/ST/OBC candidates to enable them to compete with other general category students?"</b>
This has sparked a debate among students on whether or not merit should be compromised to such an extent that reserved category students continue to enjoy benefits of their backward tag, sacrificing academic excellence in the name of affirmative action.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Abraham Thomas | New Delhi
The Centre is beginning to feel the pinch of its policy on reservations. Having added 27 per cent OBC quota to the list of those receiving reservation benefits previously available only to SC/ST students in central educational institutions including the IITs and IIMs, there is now a demand from reserved category students for extra coaching to ensure they become as competent as their general category counterparts.
<b>Six students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi who were ousted for their poor academic record in the first year of studies, have challenged the instituteâs decision demanding that owing to their background tag, the IIT must take responsibility to provide them additional facility by way of extra classes and coaching to make them capable of keeping abreast with the high quality of academic teaching.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> This plea forms part of a petition filed by the expelled students before the Supreme Court. A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan has issued notice to the Union Ministry for Human Resources Development and IIT Delhi seeking their response to the same.
It was by a communication dated May 21 this year that the admission of the six first-year students of B Tech course in IIT-D stood cancelled. A subsequent order by the IIT Registrar on June 2 declared the students be struck off the rolls of the institute.
<b>According to the institute rules, a general category student is required to earn a minimum of 20 credits in the first year for promotion to the next year.
For a reserved category student, this threshold is 16. If a student fails to obtain the requisite credits, he is expelled from the institute. As the candidate progresses in the course, the qualification criteria get stricter as in the second year the benchmark is set at 50 credits for general category students and 46 for reserved category students.</b>
It was the case of the institute that the students failed to obtain the requisite marks as a result of which they were expelled. But the petitioner students do not want to call it quits yet. In a petition filed through advocate DK Garg, the students cited the practice followed in IITs other than Delhi, <b>which entitles a weak student to continue under a "Slow Track Programme," a provision for students who fail to clear subjects in first and second year to continue with the course without being expelled.</b>
Delhi IIT does not provide this arrangement, which is now being challenged by the students as an arbitrary measure by the institute to deprive reserved category students of reservation benefits.
Questioning the lack of any similar scheme in the Delhi wing, the petitioners argued,<b> "What is the use of providing reservation in higher education when no facility is provided to SC/ST/OBC candidates to enable them to compete with other general category students?"</b>
This has sparked a debate among students on whether or not merit should be compromised to such an extent that reserved category students continue to enjoy benefits of their backward tag, sacrificing academic excellence in the name of affirmative action.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->