bend it like IAPT

Bending rules of IAPT and using them to meet vested interests have become norm these days as it suits the larger interests of few people. IAPT this year clearly laid out the criterion of eligibility of NSEJS according to which students of classes 9 and 10 can only appear in junior science Olympiad. By having set this rule IAPT meant that students of Junior classes ( like 7 and 8 ) should be not exposed to this grind at very early stage which was a very appropriate logic. However IAPT and HBCSE never understood the stakes of few people in these exams because in Senior Olympiad no such things were mentioned and it is generally assumed for class 11 and 12 students in some special cases even class 9 and 10 students can appear for it. But came to know stories of class 7 and 8 students clearing the Senior Science Olympiads. It raises very important questions

1. When IAPT and HBCSE have the objections with the fact that class 7 and 8 students should not appear in NSEJS and how come the same students be allowed to appear in Sr Science Olympiads.

2.   Every state have different cutoff and few people are taking the advantage of this arbitrage and making students appear from the places where cutoff is low irrespective of the fact that where the student is studying. This is vicious trend and soon clearing Olympiad will become more manipulation game rather intelligence. 

Cheating by Center (code RJ213) in NSE

Some thing fishy with RJ213 center of NSE
1. All three toppers from the same center
2. center code details not there in the list released by IAPT
3. IAPT is not ready to divulge details about this center

from sources it has come to known that there answer key was provide to them for filling the OMRs

An appeal to IAPT and HBCSE officials for removing the irregularities

To,

The Director,

128/2 J.P. Naik Road,

I.I.E. Campus, Kothrud,

Near Solaris Club,

Pune (Maharashtra) - 411038

Dear Sir,

Sub: Request for correcting glaring inequities in the system of NSE Stage –I Examinations- mis-use /manipulation of the system by some people and institutions

Please refer to the above.

I, as father/ ward of my son [Roll No            ], seek to bring to your notice a highly inequitable and unjust rule / basis of Stage –I selections in NSEJS , NSEB,NSEC,NSEA which will convince any impartial  person that the said Rule is not made in furtherance of the object for which the Science Olympiad competition is supposed to be conducted, but for some either ulterior motive or on the basis of a consideration which has lost its relevance in the changed circumstances.

2.         Your Organization is apparently conducting Olympiad related tests/ competition to bring the talented students of science to focus and promote the education of science in the Country for the betterment of the society and nation at large. In spite of this highly laudable object, you are still caught in the retrograde argument of reservation for various States / Regions of the country. The result is that while students with inferior talent get the opportunity to participate  in subsequent rounds  of Olympiad , the  better ones from other States are overlooked. For example: the cut off marks for students of Rajasthan is 150 and for students of Uttar Pradesh – it is 109.

3.         My son –Master                           , student of   standard at Kota Rajasthan appeared at NSEJS- Stage -I Exam from Kota and in spite of having obtained [   ] marks was not eligible for participating in latter rounds of Olympiad whereas students who got much lesser marks ( from other States) will get the opportunity to do so. Such inequity is extremely disappointing and discouraging for the students and parents alike. It was all the more shocking when it was learnt that other class mates of my son who are enrolled in schools of Kota but appeared from Uttar Pradesh to take the advantage of the lesser cut off of UP and higher  number of seats and got selected with lower marks.

4.        It has come to light that APPEJAY School Noida (Center code UP011) unlawfully enrolled students from other States (especially from Rajasthan) who appeared from their school. In fact, a detailed scrutiny will bring to light  the name of a coaching institute of Kota who masterminded this exercise.

5.          In view of the obvious manipulation, I request you to make me available the following details, at the earliest:

 (i) Please provide the copy of the registration forms of all students enrolled at APPEJAY School Noida (Center code UP011):

(ii) Please provide the details regarding the various inspections/ Checks carried out by your organization to ascertain the correctness of form filled by students.  

That I am ready to pay cost for the documents mentioned above.

6.         I am sure that as a responsible organization, you will provide the above details to me and help restoring the credibility of the system. An investigation by your organization, on above lines, will also bring to light the facts very easily, if done honestly.

7.         Further, if your organization is interested in avoiding such manipulations in future, the best course is eliminate Statewise quota, otherwise this manipulation  will spread far and wide.

7.         I understand that it is easy for a non-governmental organization to shrug off all responsibility and disown any accountability. But it is for inferior organizations and not for an organizations of TEACHERS like yours who are supposedly there to foster higher ethical and moral values in the society.  

8.         In view of above injustice, I am committed to escalate this matter  to the highest levels of  all forums of government, judiciary and social media, if not redressed at your level,  and ensure that such inequities are not perpetrated , credibility of the system is not eroded and unscrupulous people do not go home with undeserving rewards.

           

                                                                                                  Yours Faithfully

                                                                                                                       

Copy to :

1.        Prof. M. L. Oglapurkar ,  Chief Coordinator (IAPT Examinations),

IAPT Office, Sheela Vihar Colony,
7, Heramb Coop HSG Society,
Near Kimaya Hotel, Karve Road,
Kothrud, Pune 411 038
Email: iaptpune@gmail.com

2.        Prof. Anwesh Mazumdar

National Coordinator, Science Olympiads

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (TIFR),

V. N. Purav Marg,

Mankhurd, Mumbai 400 088

3.       Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource

Government of India

New Delhi

The most unfortunate thing happening with talent in India in exams conducted by IAPT and HBCSE. IAPT has fixed the quota for maximum number of selections from every state.

Selection for Stage II Olympiads: Numbers from each State UT
Sr. No	States	Quota
1	A & N Islands	1
2	Andhra Pradesh	19
3	Arunachal Pradesh	2
4	Assam	6
5	Bihar	18
6	Chandigarh	1
7	Chattisgarh	6
8	D & N Haveli	1
9	Daman & Diu	1
10	Delhi	6
11	Goa	2
12	Gujarat	13
13	Haryana	6
14	Himachal Pradesh	2
15	Jammu & Kashmir	3
16	Jharkhand	6
17	Karnataka	15
18	Kerala	10
19	Lakshadweep	1
20	Madhya Pradesh	19
21	Maharastra	28
22	Manipur	2
23	Meghalaya	2
24	Mizoram	2
25	Nagaland	2
26	Orissa	9
27	Pondichery	1
28	Punjab	6
29	Rajasthan	17
30	Sikkim	2
31	Tamil Nadu	17
32	Tripura	2
33	Uttar Pradesh	55
34	Uttarakhand	3
35	West Bengal	19

States like UP has got lion’s share where states like Rajasthan has very limited seats (17) despite having very stiff competition in Rajasthan.  So for a student appeared for NSEJS from Rajasthan needs min 151 marks where as a student from UP required just 109 Marks to clear the NSEJS.

This disparity is now understood by schools and coaching and taking the advantage of this. One coaching of Kota to increase selections in NSEJS and other Olympiads asking its students to appear for exams from UP to increase chances of selections. They are resorting to illegal ways for doing this. As per rules of IAPT and HBCSE a student should appear from the same place or school where he is registered. But neither IAPT nor HBCSE checking this flaw. Students registered in kota schools are appearing from UP to take advantage of this asymmetry.

To quote the specific example APPEJAY School Noida (center Code UP011) allowing students of Rajasthan to appear from its center. This seems to be dangerous connivance of Coaching and School and IAPT and HBCSE should note of it ASAP. 

INJSO paper was porly framed by HBCSE

Several of our students and teachers have problems with the first level examination. To our great dismay we found that the second level examination in junior science (INJSO 2014)  was atrociously bad.  Some obvious errors 

1. on very first page a table of constants are given, several units of quantities (say speed of light) are wrongly given. In Table of chemical elements atomic number is written in place of atomic mass.
2. Data insufficient -  in Que 3 (distances between planets), Que 8 (Ca mass).  There are other. 

3. In Q 3, there is no case iv but it is in the option.

4. Official answers of Que 11, 23, 59 ,56, 60 are wrong.

5. Many questions are out of syllabus. for example Q 16 (photon concept) , 33 (error analysis), 52 (torque). 64 (titration) and many more.

6. Many questions are poorly framed. for example 28, 44, 45, 60,68. Just glance at Q 45-  force curve does not go to zero. Hence none of the answer is correct.

Many questions are based on laughable assertions. Have a look at Q 68 (last question of the paper).

There are many issues with the paper. I urge you to look at the paper and try to solve some of the questions. Therefore we request that this paper which is a shame on Indian science be withdrawn and another exam of INJSO 2014 be  recounducted. There is enough time to  do this since IJSO is to be conducted in December 2014.

IAPT accepts the mistake

It seems IAPT has partially accepted the mistake done by it. Yesterday on 15 Jan it has issued a additional list of NSEC selected students. In this new list 71 more students are selected from India and from Rajasthan 18 are selected. IAPT has earlier checked the answer sheets of all these students with the wrong answer key. IAPT has done the reevaluation after receiving lot of complains , however still it failed to deliver the justice. Many students from Kota who was getting more than the cutoff are still not there in the list. HBCSE should ensure that IAPT does the reevaluation of all students who have sent the complain not only to selected students. 

IJSO result of Andhra Pradesh

The cutoff for AP is 179 and max marks scored is 204 , which is next to impossible. In rajasthan the maximum scored is 148. such figure clearly indicate that exam in AP is tempered with. This year's NSEJS paper was difficult , it is highly improbable that every AP selected student scored more than 179 marks. IAPT and HBCSE should look in to this .

IAPT mismanages Olympiads

IAPT has recently declared result of NSEs stage 1.  Students have reported lot of irregularities in various Olympiads. Students who were expecting more than cut off are not selected. There is no body in IAPT to answer all this. Students who have put so much labor in preparing for these exams have every right to know, the marks scored by them in the various Olympiads. In the past too IAPT has acted as a dictator and least bothered about the transparency in conducting the exams.

Cities like Jaipur and kota which contribute every good number of selections in NSEC every year is completely missing from the list this time. Bikaner and JNV bundi has surprisingly more than 10 selections in NSEC; such anomalies clearly reflect the mismanagement of IAPT..

IAPT and HBCSE double Standards in NSE result

 Let me take the example of NSEJS first. The numbers have swallowed since the first list declared by IAPT to final list declared by HBCSE. For Example in NSEJS there were 17 students who were not present in the first list released by IAPT. Out of which some students are last year awardees which is understood, but rest of the students did not figure out in the first list released by IAPT. It has done some adjustments and the number of selections has increased after that. This has been done in a very silent way and IAPT and HBCSE in tight lipped about this increased no of students. This has been done in every Olympiad. It is time these people should be taken to court for doing things at their whims and fancies. There could be reasons for this.

1.     1.   There could be some deserving candidates who protested when there were not selected on rechecking it was found that the mistake was from IAPT.( if you have not protested then you have no chance)

2.     2.   Some students would have selected to oblige some body.

3.     3.   IAPT and HBCSE have their own different measures of selecting the candidates after all tests are done.

IAPT and HBCSE are duty bound to come with explanation for each candidate who wwas not there in the first released by IAPT.