THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an unprecedented achievement, candidates from Kerala have bagged 50 per cent of seats in the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) for the integrated five-year BS-MS degree through direct admission mode. This was when the number of students getting admitted from the state to other prestigious institutions such as IITs is very minimal.Academicians attribute this to the training programmes such as Inculcate initiated by the previous LDF Government. Of the 450 students who have been admitted to the IISER through this stream, around 240 students are from the state.Of the 90 students admitted to the IISER, Thiruvananthapuram, as many as 86 are from the state. The rest of the students are admitted to the other four IISERs; Kolkata, Mohali, Bhopal and Pune. The total number of seats in IISER is 550. Of them, 100 seats are reserved for those who qualify the IIT-JEE and based on the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY).Inculcate is a Science Propagation Programme of the State Government organised through the universities in the state.The objective is to catch potential future scientists at a young age and nurture their inborn talents for scientific learning and research. The Kerala State Science and Technology Museum is the coordinating institution for the venture. The students selected for the programme will be attached to an eminent scholar in either the universities or research institutions who will, in turn, act as a mentor. The students will also have the opportunity to interact with eminent academia in leading research institutes. However, there are opposition to the criterion followed by the IISER for direct admissions. Some argue that while the criterion adopted provided undue benefits to some students, it was disadvantageous to some others. The five IISERs use cut-off marks based on Class XII scores in 2010 to determine who can apply in 2011 for direct admission to their five-year, dual-degree BS-MS programmes. The rationale for considering last year’s cut-off marks for this year’s admissions under this category is being questioned by some academics who say the wide variations in results of each board every year will be disadvantageous to students of some states. The IISERs were started in Bhopal, Kolkata, Mohali, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram to give a boost to science teaching and research.As per the norms followed for direct admission mode, students of every board in the country will be eligible to apply if they figure in the top one per cent of the state both in their 10th and 12th classes. K M Gopinathan, chairman of the Joint Admission Committee of IISERs, put the high percentage of students admitted to the IISER from the state to the high awareness level on science education in the state. Gopinathan told ‘Express’ that students from Kerala are more aware of institutions such as IISER than students from other states. This can be understood from the large number of students appearing forcounselling compared to other states, he said.
Comments
0 comment