File picture of candidates coming out of a JEE centre at in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, June 8: Poor performance of students from Odisha in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) has led the state government to plan integrate coaching for competitive examinations as part of the regular syllabus of the state-run Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE).

Of the 46,096 students from Odisha who took the test, only 3,202 have qualified for the advanced JEE examinations. Candidates from the second test will be short-listed for 16 IITs, five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (ISER), Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Rae Bareli.

It is a matter of concern for Odisha that is striving to make the state an education hub. Odisha’s 6.95 per cent students qualifying for the next round of JEE exams is far behind the likes of Andhra (18.6 per cent), Delhi (19 per cent), Jharkhand (15 per cent), Karnataka (13 per cent) Tamil Nadu (11 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (12 .8 per cent) and Bengal (13.3 pre cent).

This is for the first time that Odisha has joined the all India test for its 100-odd engineering colleges.

Another worrying aspect is that the state-run CHSE students have fared poorly as compared students of CBSE and ICSE.

While 1,364 of 8,758 CBSE students and 130 of 1,056 ICSE students figured in the list of candidates who would be taking the second test, only 1,688 of 35,562 CHSE students have cleared the first hurdle.

The performance of Odisha students has baffled educationists and administrators in the state.

Students who took the test reasoned that it was easier to score in examinations conducted by school boards such as CBSE and ICSE as compared to the state board. The state board is conservative in its assessment. Usually, they are giving lower marks as compared to other Indian boards, they said.

“Such a move is detrimental to the interests of students from rural parts of the state,” said Suresh Mahakud, a student.

The problem is certainly not with the students. There are multiple factors that have resulted in such a poor show, said registrar of IIT Bhubaneswar B.K. Ray.

“First, the quality of teaching at the Plus Two level must be improved. Second, there has to be quality coaching and since most entrances are CBSE driven, the CHSE must change its syllabus accordingly. Generally, Odia medium students find it difficult to understand technical terms in English. This is one of the major reasons for the poor show. They should be acquainted with the words at the Plus-Two level itself or even before that,” Ray told The Telegraph.

The issue figured at a meeting of officials presided over by chief secretary J.K. Mohapatra, which was attended by officials of the school and mass education and the technical education departments.

“Both the departments have been asked to prepare a blue print on how to integrate coaching as part of the regular school curriculum,” an official of the technical education department said.

The necessity to provide coaching for these competitive examinations was felt in view of the fact that coaching centres run by private agencies were doing roaring business in the state.

“At Plus Two, more students are attending coaching centres than their respective colleges or schools. If, in the curriculum itself, we take care of the coaching side, the students will not struggle hard at the competitive examinations,” said the official.