After IIT-Kanpur, opposition to the combined engineering entrance exam plan has hit the premier institute's Kharagpur branch as well, with faculty members on Sunday threatening to go on a hunger strike.
IIT-Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya had on Saturday said the institute had no objection to a common test, inviting protests."We had opposed the move, but the director didn't listen to us. We have no option but to go on a hunger strike," said Proshanta Guha, general secretary of IIT-Kharagpur Teachers' Association.
Teachers of IIT-Mumbai and Delhi too were showing opposition. While Sanjeev Sanghi, president of IIT-Delhi's faculty forum, said an emergency senate meeting had been sought on or after June 18, IIT-Mumbai would wait till the month-end.
"An emergency senate meeting can happen when more than 20% of the teachers who are senate members write to the director. Since this is vacation time, it will be called by the end of June," said an IIT-Mumbai teacher on condition of anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}"An emergency senate meeting can happen when more than 20% of the teachers who are senate members write to the director. Since this is vacation time, it will be called by the end of June," said an IIT-Mumbai teacher on condition of anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}IIT-Madras, which was initially happy with the proposal, was beginning to show resentment towards the common entrance exam plan.
"The move will destroy the entire IIT system. Let us see what we can do," said a faculty member.
That's not all. The All India IIT Teachers' Federation, the body of teachers' representatives from all the 15 IITs, slammed Sibal for "tampering with the autonomy of the institutions" and sought the Prime Minister's intervention.
"If the government takes a strong stand, more and more people will lose faith in the system. We are likely to be given an appointment with the Prime Minister early next week," said Atul Mittal, general secretary of the federation.