Answer

Introduction

India witnesses nearly 70 lakh students competing annually for undergraduate seats through JEE, NEET, CUET, and CLAT, with 15 lakh aspirants for JEE alone against 18,000 IIT seats. This intense competition fuels coaching industry, triggers student suicides, and perpetuates inequalities, raising questions on fairness, equity, and psychological well-being.

Body

Key Challenges in the Current Architecture of Undergraduate Entrance Exams

• Excessive Competition and Psychological Stress: Intense competition fosters anxiety, depression, and alienation among adolescents.
  Eg: Reports of student suicides in Kota (2023–24) reflect pressure of cracking JEE/NEET.
• Rise of an Expensive Coaching Culture: Private coaching overshadows schooling and adds heavy costs, with two-year programmes costing ₹6–7 lakh excluding accommodation.
• Urban-Rural and Socioeconomic Disparities: Access favours urban, wealthier families over rural and low-income groups.
  Eg: Majority of JEE Advanced toppers hail from metro cities with premium coaching hubs.
• Merit Distortion and Overqualification: Exams demand extraordinary scores, over-filtering students beyond B.Tech requirements.
• Marginalisation of Holistic Development: Students sacrifice sports, arts, and peer bonding for intensive preparation from age 14.

Reforms and Strategies 

• Weighted Lottery for Admissions: Adopt a lottery for eligible students meeting a threshold like 80% in PCM, reducing cut-throat ranking.
  Eg: Applicants above a minimum threshold enter a lottery where higher grades raise odds, reducing bias, promoting diversity, and easing pressure from unfair, costly metrics.
• Regulation or Nationalisation of Coaching: Ban for-profit coaching or convert to state-controlled affordable preparation platforms.
  Eg: China’s “Double Reduction Policy” (2021) banned for-profit tutoring in core subjects.
• Enhanced Regional and Social Representation: Introduce vertical reservations for rural, gender, and regional equity within existing frameworks, similar to Dutch model.
  Eg: Proposal to reserve 50% of IIT seats for government school students to promote social mobility and reduce inequality.
• Free, Open-Access Learning Resources: Provide national-level online study materials and recorded lectures to level the field.
• Cap and Regulate Coaching Fees: Impose fee ceilings and transparency norms for coaching centres to reduce exploitation.
  Eg: Rajasthan Coaching Regulation Act introduced in 2023 to address rising suicides.
  

Conclusion

National Education Policy (2020) and National Testing Agency Review Panel (2022) recommend reducing over-testing, strengthening school-based evaluation, and promoting holistic learning. India must move towards weighted lotteries, robust regulation of coaching, transparent allocation, and equity-based seat distribution, ensuring fair competition without sacrificing mental health or social justice.

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