JEE Main and NEET to be held again in January 2019

As NTA takes charge, reports say JEE Main and NEET to be held again in January 2019 and in May 2019. For the benefit of lakhs of students, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) Javedkar announced that the National Medical Entrance Exam (NEET) and engineering entrance exam JEE might be conducted twice a year. Every year, students appear for these two entrance examinations in the hope of getting through the top engineering and medical colleges in the country. As mentioned by the authorities, like for the exams that were held in April, the forms were available by the month of December, but now as the exam itself is in January, the forms will be available by September.

While many did not get through the first examination, they should not lose hope as the exams might be conducted again this year. The National Testing Agency (NTA) might conduct the JEE/NEET 2018 exams again this year in the month of December. The nod for setting up this agency was given by the Union Cabinet and the budget for the same was announced by Finance Minister Arjun Jaitley last year.

Presently the NTA will look after conducting the following entrance exams

1. JEE Main 2019 (Joint Entrance Examination Main)
2. NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test)
3. UGC NET (National Eligibility Test)
4. CTET (Central Teachers Eligibility Test)
5. JNV (Jawahar Navodyay Vidhyalay)

NTA’s Future commitment

1. JEE Advanced
2. CAT (Common Admission Test)
3. GATE (Graduate Aptitude Testing in Engineering)

How will this initiative by HRD Ministry benefit students?

The exams will be conducted at least twice a year online, giving an adequate opportunity for the candidates to bring out the best in them.

The HRD Minister is of the opinion that taking away the extra burden would leave CBSE with some space to focus on improving the quality of education.

The best benefit of NTA would be the conduct of JEE Main and NEET examinations twice a year in an online format. The twice a year examination for chief entrance examinations would help students to do well in their studies and most importantly give them an additional opportunity to appear without wasting their year.

And a lot of times it happens that the entrance examination and the board examination fall on the same date, creating a confusion and chaos among the students.

But this initiative will eliminate this problem forever, as there will be two entrance examinations conducted so that students can give their best and get through best colleges in their own respective fields.

Major Advantage of conducting Exams twice a year

Skip exams in April and May if it collides with boards: The examinations are at present conducted in the months of April and May, which are just after the board examinations for class 12th. This decision of exam happening twice in a year gives students the time to do their preparations, which is bound to benefit students immensely.

Relief to CBSE

The CBSE has conveyed its inhibitions to the HRD Ministry about conducting the exams in future, saying they are overburdened with the massive exercise.

Both the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to engineering colleges and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical colleges are currently conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE).

Currently, for seven entrance tests more than 40 lakh students appear — CAT, JEE (Main), JEE (Advanced), GATE, CMAT, NEET, NET — held by the CBSE, IITs, IIMs and AICTE every year, reports TOI.

National Testing Agency (NTA)

The National Test Agency (NTA) is an independent body dedicated to conducting entrance tests for higher education, on the lines of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States.

The main motive behind the formation of NTA was to set up an entirely independent body that will only look after the proper and fair means to conduct the medical and engineering entrance examinations. Also, the foundation of the same was confirmed in the Union budget 2018 by Arun Jaitley. This has ultimately reduced the load over CBSE. Now they can look forward to the improvisation of the educational content, questions banks, study materials etc.