Single Entrance Exam – Bravo!

Yes, I am in favor. But the Tamilnadu government is in defiance. But why?

The single entrance exam will enable a student from say Nagpur with fewer colleges to take the single entrance exam and use that score to apply to say Pondicherry Engineering College, which s/he would not have otherwise done. So what does this do? This lets us match supply and demand in higher education more efficiently across the country. Not to mention the students’ relief at having to write just one entrance exam for nation-wide admissions.

In addition, as this system stabilizes and gains credibility workplaces and higher education institutions will use this score to gauge a person’s ability. As the SAT, GRE, GMAT scores have become universal indicators of a person’s  analytical abilities worldwide (JEE, CAT and CBSE are our own home-grown examples), this score can represent a person’s ability in a percentile format.

The Tamilnadu government has a differing opinion. It opines that rural students will be at a disadvantage with this single entrance exam as they do not have the same wherewithal as an urban student to prep for this exam.  Students from Tamilnadu earlier and students elsewhere even now flock to coaching centers to prep up for various entrance exams after their 12th board exams. These coaching centers do charge a hefty fee and promise 100% class admissions, 50% tier-I college admission etc.

The Tamilnadu government’s fear  is a moot point as such a system will be designed to assess the students natural abilities as a result of twelve years of school education and not his/her ability honed as a result of a 30-day crash course. Moreover, such a system will open up opportunities for these rural students to find admissions in colleges across the nation instead of paying hefty capitation fees to get into local private institutions of dubious repute.

If anything, governments in other states with lower education standards have to be worried since their colleges will tend to get filled with students from other erudite states such as Tamilnadu. This may have the nasty consequence of state quotas going up and underutilization of college seats.

My advise to the Tamilnadu government would be to open up and create more opportunities for its students. Share young blood and talent across the country and we will start laying the foundation for a more united tomorrow.

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