What to Read in Indian Express ( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Last updated on November 29th, 2024 Posted on November 29, 2024 by Magme Research Team

Editorial Analysis

Editoral 1 : How to fix the JEE 

Context: The JEE system is broken. How can India produce employable engineers

Introduction: The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for IITs is not an inclusive mechanism, as it exists now.

What ails the JEE

• Loss of Childhood: Aspirants study for several years, often at the exclusion of everything else. They lose their childhood and get burnt out.
• Exclusivity: Only 2% of the aspirants get in, making it like a lottery.
• High Cost: Coaching improves chances of success but comes at a high cost.
  • Many from lower economic strata spend more than they can afford to put their children through coaching.
  • While the chances become higher, there is no guarantee that coaching will result in definite success.
• Suicides: Children who feel that they will not succeed can develop guilty feelings, which can transform into suicidal tendencies in extreme cases.
• Usefulness: Things will not be so bad if what one studies for the JEE is useful later on. But that is not the case.
  • According to McKinsey most engineering graduates are unemployable even though many of them would have done well at school and worked hard to prepare for JEE.
• Lack of Choice: Not studying the branch/subject one likes, especially when one is forced to do so, is another serious problem. Allowing the student to make this choice is a possible way out.

Women in Engineering

• According to the All-India Survey on Higher Education 2021-22, out of the 39 lakh students who studied engineering, about 29% were women.
• This is in line with the proportion of women who apply for JEE (30%).
• Unfortunately, less than 10% used to get into IITs, until a 20% quota was introduced for women.

A New Approach

• Mentoring
  • All the top institutions (IITs, BITS Pilani, NITs, etc.) should be allowed to shift to the mentoring level.
  • They will not teach the first and second-year B.Tech students at their institutions.
• At the end of the second year of engineering, entrance exams may be conducted for admission into the third year of engineering in mentoring institutions.
• Double the number of students may be admitted to mentoring institutions as they will not have first and second-year students.
• The first two years of engineering courses, in the chosen branch, as given in NPTEL videos, will form the syllabus.

NPTEL

• Students who prepare well for the JEE but do not get into a mentoring institution of their choice can continue their education for two more years at their own college, and graduate.
• They can continue to study using NPTEL courses and graduate as better engineers, with a higher employment potential.
• NPTEL courses can continue to be made available free for all necessary subjects, and with local language dubbing.
• IITs can conduct free online help sessions to answer doubts in all NPTEL courses.

Developing a Reward Mechanism

• Mentoring institutions should be placed on a pedestal with significant autonomy in academics and finance.
  • They should be given a free hand on how much tuition/fees they can charge.
• Colleges that send a large number of students to mentoring institutions can be promoted to the mentoring level.
  • This is a concrete way to identify and reward well-performing colleges.
• Coaching classes that send a large number of their students to mentoring institutions can also be promoted to the mentoring level.

Better Educated and More Employable Engineers

• The proposed approach has great potential to improve the productivity of the IT industry.
• JEE will become an effective channel to pass on all other required skills to the entire academia.
• The central idea of this proposal is the conviction that the top 2% of the population will be good irrespective of the selection method.

The proposed method can be validated through a pilot in a few branches or in select IITs, and if found satisfactory, can be rolled out in all mentoring institutions.

Editorial 2 : X and You

Context: What people don’t know when they sign up on social media

Introduction: Social media has become an integral part of modern life, offering benefits such as connectivity, education, and emergency mobilization. However, it also brings challenges like privacy risks, misinformation, and corporate control over user-generated content.

Terms of Services

• Terms of services are notoriously hard to comprehend.
• People seldom go beyond clicking the ‘accept’ button.

 Challenges

• Privacy Breaches: Incidents like the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal highlighted the misuse of personal data.
• Disinformation and Anxiety: Social media contributes to higher anxiety levels, reduced attention spans, and the spread of misinformation.
• Corporate Influence: Allegations, such as Elon Musk’s use of X to influence U.S. elections, underscore concerns about the political power of tech giants.

 Regulatory and Platform Responses

• Global Efforts: Countries are increasingly introducing laws to regulate social media’s impact.
  • Example: Australia’s law banning children under 16 from accessing social media.
• Proactive restrictions by platforms
  • TikTok limits beauty filters for users below 13.
  • Instagram offers teen accounts with parental management features.
• Positives of Social Media
• Social media remains a valuable tool for media and education, amplifying voices that are rarely heard.
• It has been used to mobilise emergency responses, such as after the devastating 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, and can help the vulnerable and lonely make meaningful connections.

Way Forward

• The risks of social media cannot be overlooked.
• The most effective defence is user awareness, including about the power asymmetry in the relationship with tech companies.
• Greater transparency and sustained public conversations can drive digital media literacy.