Gearing up for IIT? Here’s some good news. In the coming two months, the government will launch the IITPAL portal and mobile app for IIT JEE aspirants, said Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.

Speaking during an EPSI conference, the Minister said students can access 50 years of IIT entrance examination papers through the portal / app.

“Some of the best academicians, IIT faculty members will give video lectures, also available as audio aids, so that students can have that additional learning through the portal and the app,” said Irani.

The move was announced to curb the menace of coaching institutes, said Irani. “One of the biggest pressures on the students are the IIT entrance exams, for which many students have to learn outside the classroom; they join various coaching institutions only to pass the JEE exam,” she added.

Regional language content The MHRD Minister also announced, in conjunction with the IIT council, that the government will ensure that the JEE question paper conforms to the 12th standard syllabus, so that degree-level questions are not asked.

To address the challenges faced by students who come from various State boards and have studied in regional languages, the translation for the complete content will be available in 13 languages.

Irani said that many international MOOC (massive open online course) platforms claim to be not-for-profit but are profiteering when they ask academicians and institutions to pay for designing and putting up a course. The MOOC platform Swayam is truly free in that sense.

“We are engaging with IITs, IIMs, and Central universities, and have appealed to them to give us one diploma and one certificate course for one semester from the degree courses,” said Irani. “Give us the professor that you deem fit for engagement for that course and we will pay for the development of the course and the audio visual component, we will also pay the professors for their time and effort.”

To begin with, the content will be available in 10 languages and will be provided free to every Indian citizen. The regulator will also give credit for all these courses exclusively on the Swayam platform.

“We will also ensure that over 1,000 examination centres come up in the country where citizens can take examinations for MOOC courses and receive their certification,” said Irani. “These credits will also get them physical entry into any institution across the country.”

To begin with, Swayam will offer 500 courses. Considering most dropouts happen after 8th standard, Swayam will also offer certification for 9th and 11th standards, and Std 10 and 12 board examinations.

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