Patna, June 18: The glory of sunrise in the east was lost with declaration of the IIT-JEE (Advanced) results today. 

Even Patna, known for its stupendous success in the test, considered the toughest entrance exam in the world by experts, had only a few jubilant faces on Thursday morning (See Metro), as only one aspirant found a place in the top 100 without a single one in the first 10 ranks from IIT Guwahati zone.

Bihar and the Northeast come under the IIT Guwahati zone.

Ayush Ranjan, who has secured all-India rank (AIR) 94, said: “It is a proud moment for me to figure in the top 100 and to become topper in the IIT Guwahati zone.”

After completing his studies from Doon Public School, Patna, Ayush went for a two-year IIT preparations from a national-level coaching institute. Ayush, who got 358 of 504 marks, plans to take computer science either at IIT Bombay or IIT Delhi. Ayush’s father works as an X-ray technician at Patna Medical College and Hospital. 

Satna (Madhya Pradesh) boy Satvat Jagwani is this year’s IIT-JEE (advanced) topper securing 469 marks of 504 while the second and third positions have been grabbed by Indore students Janak Agarwal and Mukesh Pareekh, respectively.

Not only in terms of rank but also the number of students clearing the test from the IIT Guwahati zone is the lowest in all the seven zones. While only 1,445 students have cleared the test from the IIT Guwahati zone, the IIT Bombay zone has the maximum number of students (6,838) tasting success. According to the figures released by IIT Bombay, which conducted the exams, 26,456 of 1,17,238 candidates who appeared in the test qualified for admission to IIT branches and NITs. Last year, altogether 27,152 of the 1.36 lakh aspirants made the cut. (See chart)

The dismal performance of students from the state, and particularly Patna, has raised a question mark in quality of teaching provided by schools and coaching institutes in the region. 

Abhayanand, former director-general of police and mentor of Rahmani Super 30 and Magadh Super 30, said: “Clearing IIT entrance test is a tough job and coaching institute or private tutors providing IIT-JEE tuition should make it clear to students that the competition also requires conceptual brain.”

Though Abhayanand refused to blame any coaching institute directly, he was referring to mushrooming of such centres in Patna and other towns with a virtual guarantee in IIT entrance test charging a huge money for the two-year preparations. 

Pointing at the results in both the IIT Guwahati and IIT Kharagpur zones, NIT Patna director Asok De said: “We have noticed a cumulative fall of education in the whole eastern region.”

An educational expert, who does not want to be quoted, said: “There are many coaching institutes in Patna which round the year puts up advertisements misguiding students claiming false promises. The institutes attract students with advertisements claiming more than 50 or 60 per cent selection in the JEE. However, there is no mechanism to check the authenticity of claims of such institutes with many students getting misguided.” 

However, several teachers have different version, too. Super 30 director Anand Kumar said: “It has been found that many students from Bihar in search of better coaching facilities visit Kota, Hyderabad and other places. Though these students are from Bihar but makes JEE registration from cities from where they prepare for the test.”

Sharad Prakash, FIIT-JEE director, also has different reason behind less number of students clearing the IIT-JEE advanced. Prakash said: “Under IIT Bombay zone, there are cities such as Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and others where coaching level is better than many towns in Bihar.”