New Delhi, June 20: Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal has said there is no going back on the new IIT entrance test format.
 Sibal said the autonomy of the IITs is not being challenged and if the IIT Council can come up with a better system then he is willing to listen and change the format.
 "I am not bothered about IIT Kanpur. If IITs have a better system I am willing to listen and change," he replied when asked about IIT Kanpur planning to hold its own entrance test as the institute was in favour of the new format.
 Explaining the new test format, he said in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, that there will be a two-tier exam to enter IITs - a screening test and an advanced test. The results of the Class 12 board exams will only count for the first tier screening test and not for the advanced test. Sibal said the new format will be applicable from 2013 as decided by the IIT Council.
 Meanwhile, unfazed by the resistance from the IIT faculty as well as the alumni, government would soon write to the joint admission board of the IITs to prepare the modalities for conducting the proposed common entrance test for admission to engineering programmes under the new format.
 Sources said HRD Ministry would be asking the joint admission boards to finalise modalities of the advance exam, one of the component of the two-tier test which would be implemented from 2013 onwards.
 The development comes as Council of Boards of School Education is also expected to meet later this month to discuss issues related to coordination among different boards on matters such as holding the plus-two board examinations on time and time-bound declaration of results.
 The new system of entrance test would take the board results into consideration for preparing the merit list.
 Indications are that IIT Delhi senate, which is expected to meet on June 21, would also follow on the lines of IIT Kanpur. The latter has decided to hold its own entrance test following its rejection of the new system.
 The faculty federation insists that implementing the new system from 2013 will put a lot of pressure on students already in midst of preparing for the IIT-JEE next year.
 The federation, which is of the view that the new format will increase stress of students instead of decreasing it, has said that students aspiring to join institutes other than the IITs need not sit for two test -- main and advance --as proposed.
 It said that only the main be used for all institutes except the IITs to select students. It said the advance test should be required only for the IITs.
 "The IITs advance test should be subjective type, just for the candidates aspiring to join the IITs. This advance test will be held on a day different from the main test and will be administered to only shortlisted candidates from the main test (50,000-70,000) by IITs only," the federation said in a statement yesterday after meeting PMO officials.
 Meanwhile, sources within the federation claimed that the HRD ministry is considering one of their demands of not taking the plus-two board results into consideration while preparing the merit list.
 The government is, however, likely to accept the demand only for the academic year 2013.
 The sources said that the federation is in talks with several IITs in this regard and is hopeful of a positive response from the Ministry. They also claimed that Sibal is in touch with IIT directors to end the impasse.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST