KOLKATA: Marking a new low for the West Bengal Higher Secondary Council, not a single student from the state board figured among the top-10 in the 2018 West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination, the results for which were declared on Wednesday.
The state board was not only pushed out of the top-10 list —six of which went to CBSE-affiliated schools and the rest to ICSE board schools — it was also edged out by the two central boards in the list of first 10,000 rank holders.
This led the WBJEE to cast its net wider releasing the analysis of all 1,05,081 successful candidates—all those who scored above 0—allowing the state board to showcase a 47% success rate. Till last year, the WBJEE released the board-wise breakup of only the top- 10,000 ranks.
Desperate to retain successful students and stem the migration tide that has had engineering colleges in the state battling mounting vacancies in the past, the WBJEE published the results in record time and plans to begin counselling at least a week ahead of others.
Aware of the impending exodus to the IITs and other engineering institutes across the country, the WBJEEB has decided to allow all candidates who have scored above zero to participate in e-counselling for the 35,000 engineering seats in Bengal.
However, these steps may not be enough as all toppers are eagerly awaiting the IIT-JEE (Advanced) result and have no hesitation in saying that they will opt for the premier institute over engineering colleges in Bengal.
This year’s topper, Avinandan Bose, is from South Point High School, an institution that has consistently performed well at WBJEE over the years. However, unlike previous years where a predictable list of schools provided the top performers, this year there were surprises in store. Dedeepyo Ray of Hariyana Vidya Mandir bagged the second rank while Archisman Saha of DPS Ruby Park stood third.
While no single school dominated the top-10 list, Ritwik Ganguly (rank 7) of
Hem Sheela Model School in Durgapur is the only one from the districts to figure in the top-10.
In 2017, 47% of the top 10,000 candidates were from
CBSE, 26% from WBHSC, 13% from Bihar Board, 9% from ISC and 5% from other boards. WBJEE on Wednesday refused to divulge the board-wise ratio of top 10,000 candidates and instead released the ratio for all 1,00,976 successful examinees that had 47% from WBHSC, 25% from CBSE, 15% from Bihar Board, 6% from CISCE and 7% from other boards. But this ratio is not indicative of the performance by students from
WBHSC as 99% examinees have been successful.
“Several students who are now in the list of successful candidates have scored very poorly and would not get a place in any engineering college. Quality students figure only in the top-10,000 ranks,” said a professor of a private engineering college.
WBJEE chairman Malayendu Saha attempted to justify its decision by claiming it would have been “unfair” to celebrate the top 10,000 students while leaving out the rest. “The analysis would have been wrong since even if one particular board may have succeeded in the top 10,000, the overall picture tells a different story,” he explained.
What the official did not mention is that the ratio of students that had appeared for the examination from each board was similar to the success statistics that it had published. Thus, WBHSC’s 47% success was only due to an equally high percentage of examinees from the board that had taken the exam.
“It was not the WBJEE Board’s responsibility to put a particular HS exam conducting body on a pedestal and negate others,” said another
WBJEE Board official.
This year, the board has published the results for admissions to the engineering courses in Bengal within 31 days, 11 days ahead of last year. Sources said this was done to reduce the number of empty seats in engineering colleges. It plans to begin counselling from June 4, immediately after the publication of results by all higher secondary examination conducting boards. Counselling for NITs and other technology institutes are likely to begin from the second week of June.
“Offering seats early to students may reduce the number of vacancies as candidates may hesitate to leave for another college in other states after fee payment,” said Saha. The latest All-India Council for Technical Education data shows that the percentage of vacant seats in engineering and technology colleges across Bengal has increased from 28% in 2012-2013 to 42% in 2016-2017.
