Hubballi: The arrival of the Indian institute of Technology (IIT) is changing the academic environment of the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and neighbouring districts with private tutorials mushrooming overnight and several education institutions offering special courses to help school students gain admission to the premier institute.
Both the tutorials and education institutions are receiving overwhelming response in Dharwad, which is already an education hub.
With an eye on the IIT, private schools have shortlisted high school students based on their skills, ideas and parental support for specialised training along with their regular curriculum.
Experienced faculty have been chosen and an attractive tuition fee structure worked out to interest the students. Several education institutions also plan to provide more training to these students using experts with an IIT background once they enter PU.
"Our students cannot hope to get admission to the IIT for the next two years as their academic standards do not match its requirements currently. But foundation courses have begun in many schools from this year to prepare them for it. We ourselves are conducting special classes for batches of 40 students in classes VIII, IX and X,” said Mr Vishwanath Nagathan, headmaster of the SVN English Medium High School in Dharwad.
The initiative of the schools and tutorials to prepare high school students for admission to the IIT has excited parents, who now believe it could be within their reach. But some academicians believe they are waking up a little late to the possibility.
“Although Bihar and Andhra Pradesh did not have IITs in the past, many students from these states managed to get admission to these institutes elsewhere. Students need to have such ambition and parents must support them even if there is no such institute in their region. After all a common entrance is conducted at the all- India level for admissions to them,” said principal of the BVB engineering college, Ashok Shettar.
