(Info) Centre Eyes IIT Model To Fill Vacant Quota Seats
Centre Eyes IIT Model To Fill Vacant Quota Seats
The government wants all Central universities to implement a course long run by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to fill the vacant quota seats for other backward classes (OBCs).
The ministry of human resource development, which oversees education, is considering a proposal to introduce preparatory courses at the Central universities to enrol quota students who fail to secure admission. The year-long feeder course would coach them for admission to the varsities.
The proposal was put forward to the Supreme Court in September in a reply filed by the ministry in response to a petition seeking direction on the vacant seats in the quota categories in all the 13 IITs—seven existing and six launched this year.
The petition filed by former IIT-Madras director P.V. Indresan argued that the 432 vacant quota seats for OBCs, scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) be filled by general category (GC) candidates. The ministry in its 27 September reply, reviewed by Mint, suggested: “A workable solution to prevent seats remaining unfilled without compromising on merit is available in the model followed by the IITs...”
The IITs have allowed ST and SC candidates who do not clear the joint entrance examination (JEE) to take preparatory or prep courses—and then gain admission in the next session.
The government further argued that “if this model is replicated for the OBCs by Central educational institutions even though in the first year there may be some vacancies, but in successive years there would be no vacant seats in the OBC category”.
The court later ruled that the vacant quota seats in Central universities be filled with general candidates by the end of October, which has not happened yet. A top government official said the ministry wants to implement the idea by this year so “from the next academic session, the Central universities could begin with such courses to do justice to the reserved category seats if students from the categories don’t qualify for them”. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Courtesy : livemint.com
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