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JEE Results TN board scores least in south


Students of state board schools have put up a poor show in the JEE (Advanced) this year, with only 33 clearing the test — the fewest among all southern states. Educators are worried. JEE (Advanced) results show that of the 451 candidates who qualified from Tamil Nadu this year, 418 were from schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The poor show by state board students is despite the fact that a large number of them appeared for the exam — 1,200 of the state's total of 2,815.

 

The numbers reflect poorly on the standard of education in state board schools and also raise the question of whether this system of education is equipping students to successfully take such exams or carve out a career. The situation in other southern states is markedly different. Statistics from IIT show that of the 3,000-odd students who qualified from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together, as many as 1,615 were from the Andhra Pradesh state board.

 

This also means that the rankings depend a lot on individual performances where the training given to students to crack the competitive exams becomes crucial, say experts. S Sundar, chairman, JEE (Advanced) 2015, IIT-M, said there was only one candidate from the TN state board among the top 3,000. "This proves that the training in the state board is not enough for these students to compete with [students of] other boards. The syllabus and quality of teachers plays an important role in such cases and the board should reassess the syllabus," he said. Educationists also point out that most state board students are taught to attack the final exams with a focus on scoring centums rather than developing stronger conceptual thinking. This leads to many students, who are interested in tackling competitive exams switching over to CBSE schools after Class 10. They also said the poor performance of state board students also means that, indirectly, a divide is being created among students entering the IITs as the qualifiers from the state are predominantly CBSE students.

 

When contacted, a state education department official refused to comment on the matter.

Posted on 20 Jun 2015