[Answered] Examine how India can “detoxify” its entrance examination system by transitioning from a toxic, high-stakes race to one based on fairness and equal opportunity.

Introduction

With nearly 70 lakh aspirants annually (MoE, 2023), India’s entrance examination ecosystem (JEE, NEET, CUET, CLAT) has become a “pressure-cooker system”, fuelling coaching dependence, inequity, and student suicides — demanding urgent reform.

Why Current System is “Toxic”

1. Excessive competition: 15 lakh students vie for 18,000 IIT seats — success rate <1.2%.
2. Coaching industrial complex: ₹60,000 crore industry (ASSOCHAM, 2022) charging ₹6–7 lakh, excluding poor/rural candidates.
3. Mental health crisis: Kota reported 26 suicides in 2023, highest ever (Rajasthan Police data).
4. False meritocracy: Privileges wealthier, urban families — creating structural inequity in access.
5. Over-qualification paradox: Students forced to study Irodov-level problems, unnecessary for B.Tech readiness.

Principles of Detoxification

1. Fairness: Reduce socioeconomic and regional barriers.
2. Equity: Address urban-rural, gender, caste divides in higher education access.
3. Holistic development: Protect adolescence from toxic over-specialisation.
4. Merit with inclusivity: Redefine merit beyond percentile obsession.

Pathways for Reform

(A) Strengthening School System

1. Rely on Class 12 Boards: Standardized evaluation across states, as NEP 2020 recommends.
2. Eligibility thresholds: Example — 80% in PCM for B.Tech admission, followed by weighted lottery.

(B) Global Inspirations

1. Dutch Lottery System: Weighted lottery for medical schools (1972–1999, reintroduced 2023) reduced inequity, ensured diversity.
2. China’s “Double Reduction Policy” (2021): Banned for-profit tutoring, reducing financial stress and academic burden.
3. US Holistic Admissions: Combines grades, extracurriculars, socio-economic background — limiting test-centric obsession.

(C) Lottery & Quota Innovations

1. Weighted lottery: Grades determine chances, not cut-offs — aligning with Michael Sandel’s critique of “tyranny of merit.”
2. Social equity quotas: Reserve 50% IIT seats for rural/government school students, enhancing upward mobility.
3. Regional diversity: Ensure proportional representation across states.

(D) Tackling Coaching Menace

1. Nationalisation/regulation: Like China, regulate or integrate coaching into public system.
2. Free digital content: Expand SWAYAM, DIKSHA, IIT-PAL lectures.
3. Ban predatory practices: Mandatory registration, counselling support, fee caps for coaching centres.

(E) IIT Systemic Reforms

1. Student exchange across IITs: To reduce hierarchy between old vs. new IITs.
2. Faculty rotation incentives: Uniform teaching standards nationwide.
3. Common grading norms: Reinforce equal institutional worth.

(F) Mental Health Safeguards

1. Mandatory counsellors in schools/coaching centres.
2. Periodic well-being surveys (NCERT) to track stress.
3. Helplines & peer support systems: Already piloted by Rajasthan government in Kota.

Way Forward

1. Move towards “multiple pathways to merit” — combining board exams, aptitude tests, and contextual background.
2. Implement lottery-based allocation with academic thresholds to replace “fractional score obsession.”
3. Strengthen public universities’ quality to reduce the IIT–others divide.
4. Ensure affordable, inclusive, stress-free access to higher education opportunities.

Conclusion

As Amartya Sen argued in Development as Freedom, true progress lies in expanding capabilities. Detoxifying India’s exams means creating fairness, equal opportunity, and restoring education’s role as empowerment, not oppression.