Recently IIT came out with new rules that allows only those students with 60% or more in class 12 to appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) at the institution. That apart, the number of attempts is now restricted to just two. Aspiring engineering students felt this would hamper their career moves.

This had resulted in vehement protests by students as they felt injustice was being done to them. Hundreds of students took to the streets and made their displeasure evident to the board of directors of IIT. Along with students, teachers at IIT Delhi and other colleges were also skeptical of the effects of the new rules being implemented.

When the directors at IIT Kharagpur and Chennai were urged to rethink on this decision, they declined the request saying the agitation posed by students was mainly because of the coaching institutes, who would lose business if the new rules are implemented.

Later in a decision taken by the Joint Admission Board of IITs, it was decided that students who have passed their qualifying examination in 2005 or earlier will be permitted to appear in the JEE. This means that students with less than 60% in class 12 can appear for the exam. The new rules will now be implemented from 2007.

But several students are also happy with this decision. Often parents pressurize their kids to appear for the entrance exams, even when the child does not have the aptitude for the same. Now, these children who fail the joint exams will not into the system by sheer fluke.

The decision is also likely to propel the student community towards paying more attention to their board exams – and therefore to their school curricula – it is imperative to say that majority of IIT aspirants used to neglect their board exams and continuously worked their way towards getting through the joint entrance test. And finally, it would make the coaching industry redundant.

Even as the concern over the changed pattern of the IIT test is not unjustified, it might be misplaced. It is time for students to remember that the core foundation of the JEE will still be based on their understanding of subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Maths) and their ability to apply their knowledge towards solving problems based on these subjects.

However, it is still too early to comment anything about the level of difficulty of the new IIT JEE examination structure. One thing like to be affected is the level of competition, which might get marginally impacted. All said and done - the number of aspirants would continue to be around the two lakh mark, while the number of seats at the seven prestigious IITs would still remain the same.

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