CLAIM
A message on social media regarding the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) has triggered people to believe that the test will soon be mandatory for engineering students in the form of an exit exam for the academic year 2019-2020, in order to get their degrees.
The message is likely based on a New Indian Express report, published on 4 November, which claimed that the "GATE might be compulsory of engineering students as exit exam.”
TRUE OR FALSE?
The New Indian Express report has been rubbished by R Subrahmanyam, the Secretary of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD).
In a tweet, he said:
WHAT DID THE REPORT SAY?
Quoting a source from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the report had claimed that students pursuing a technical course in the academic year 2019-2020 might have to take the GATE as an exit exam, after a resolution to the same extent had been passed by the AICTE at a meeting.
The report had further claimed that a student would be awarded a degree in engineering only if they cleared the exam. The move was reportedly done in a bid to curb the increase in unemployed graduates and to keep a check in the quality of education in engineering institutions.
On 20 November, the AICTE issued a notice rubbishing the report, stating that no decision had been taken regarding the GATE as a mandatory exit exam.
This is not the first time that reports of the GATE being made a mandatory exit exam have appeared. In 2017, a Hindustan Times report too had claimed the same, quoting a MHRD source stating that the move was being contemplated to make students more employable.
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