I read this news item on front page of The Times of India Sunday edition (29th march). The author asks are you surprised after reading this. My answer is a firm No. No not at all. And I believe anyone in India who has aspired to be in one of the prestigious IITs and has appeared in the entrance exam would not be surprised. And yes the news comes from Kota which has become the undisputed hub for all IIT JEE aspirants over the years with consistent admits from that city over the years.
I appeared for IIT JEE screening test in 2000. I could not go past the screening phase. Even in that year I knew quite a few people who had been preparing from class IX for IIT entrance. They had enrolled for correspondence courses from various tutorial classes which were supposed to be the best at that time. So after 9 years it does not come as a surprise that Parents are willing for their children to start preparing from even earlier classes. However here these initiatives have been taken by the various Kota based coaching institutes which probably are following the adage of "catch them young".
Now two questions which came to mind as I read that news article were that is it really worth starting so early for preparing for these exams? Secondly are we killing childhood of our children further and not allowing them build other interests at that tender age?
Well as far as is it worth is concerned, I thought there are two aspects to it. Is it worth start preparing for an exam for which you have to appear after 6 years? Well yes we have a lot of people who do the same for civil services examinations. But again those people are not that young and possibly have built their interests and decided for sure that is how they want to grow in their career. But at class VI most of the students are not expected to have the same kind of maturity. But again I think children these days are much more aware than I would say I was at the same age.
For the second part is it worth giving so much an effort for an IIT. Oh yes it is as IITs are the most prestigious institutes in India. IITs have been hallmark of Indian intelligence all over the world and your ticket for international acclaim. Hence there's no surprise a few years back hardly any IITian was seen in India once he graduated from the institute. There's a long list of the people who have made it really big and I think there's no need for me to actually mention those names.
But are the people who end up at IIT are more intelligent and intellectually more competent than us? Why is that so many of them have reached where they have? Well I've been staying in Mumbai for more than 4.5 years now. And it's my good fortune that I stay quite near to IIT Powai here. And now I even have a friend who is studying in SJSOM the management institute inside the IIT campus. I have had a few opportunities to actually attend a few festivals and events in the IIT Powai campus and I must admit I get overwhelmed every time I step inside the campus. The exposure one gets inside an IIt campus is unbelievable and unparalled. Not only academically but you can pursue a long list of hobbies there dramatics, fine arts, music and sports to name a few. The environment definitely is conducive for an all round growth of an individual where one also gets a chance to interact with people having diverse ethnic and cultural background. Hence no wonder those students do get a distinctive edge over their counterparts who have not been lucky to get there. I'm in no way suggesting that you can get all these only in an IIT campus but visit an IIT campus and you would realize what I'm trying to say here. It can only be experienced not put in words.
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