Medical, engineering seats shouldn’t be based on one test: Supreme Court to government

Medical, engineering seats shouldn’t be based on one test: Supreme Court to government NEW DELHI: Considering the enormous(विशाल) pressure students face to crack entrance(प्रवेश) exams for admission to medical and engineering colleges, the Supreme Court asked the government on Friday to frame guidelines to do away with the present system of a single test deciding their future.

Instead(बदले में) , 40% weightage should be given to results of the Board exams and 60% for performance in the entrance exams while shortlisting candidates for admission to such courses, the court said. "It is wrong that the entire future of a student is decided by his/her performance in the entrance examination," the court said, adding that "we cannot pass an order on the issue and it is for the government to regulate the system and frame the policy".

The bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit also expressed concern over mushrooming of private coaching institutes for entrance tests and asked the Centre to put in place a mechanism to regulate them.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by CPM's student wing SFI, asking the SC to direct regulation of such institutes, which — according to the PIL — "exploit(शोषण)" students and demand exorbitant (अत्यधिक) fees. Agreeing that commercialisation(व्यावसायीकरण)  of education must be curbed(रोक), the SC, however, said such institutes needed to be regulated, but there couldn't be a blanket ban on them.