BJP today opposed any move to increase the cut-off for clearing IIT entrance exams arguing that it would deprive students from poor families to be in the premier institutions and said the proposal was the result of Union HRD minister's desire to "hog the limelight".
"BJP will strongly oppose any move under the garb of reforms to deny poor students from the hinterland and mofussil towns a chance to aspire for the IIT," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.
He said though the BJP supports any constructive move to reform the education sector, all efforts should include dialogue, consensus and taking everybody on board.
The HRD minister Kapil Sibal has floated so many ideas earlier, including making a single board for the entire country and a single commission for higher education, but has never consulted state education ministers or chief ministers, he said adding, "these off-the-cuff reform measures can turn out to be dangerous".
Prasad gave the example of a coaching institute in Bihar which trains students for IIT from poor families and said many of the children who secure below 65% in their class 12 exams still clear the IIT entrance.
"His (Sibal) overpowering desire to hog the limelight as a performing minister without doing his homework will create havoc with the system," the BJP Spokesperson charged.
