Is access to good education truly merit-based?
Not completely. One of the things that really bug me is the IIM and IIT selection system that I am so intimately a part of now. The students that get to us now have been through some or the other tutorial college. They have paid a lakh of rupees on tuition before they made it to the IIMs or the IITs. So this virtually eliminates students who do not live in the cities, and those who cannot afford to spend a lakh on tuition. Tests ensure that meritorious students can get in. The absence of it makes the system vulnerable to influence and corruption. Our entrance exam is meant to be meritocratic. We at the IIM are saying that this is our gate to heaven and we will test you dispassionately. For the past 40 or 50 years, we have administrated this to the best. Now, 95 per cent of those who get into our institutes are from tutorial colleges. Did you prepare very hard for the IIMs? No! I stumbled upon the IIMs. One day an uncle said you should go and take the test. As it happened, the test was
