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NEET/JEE twice a year: who are beneficiaries?
Abha Gupta. Dated: 7/13/2018 12:04:51 PM
* Students
* Private Engineering colleges
* Coaching centres
ER ABHA GUPTA
Jammu, July 12
Students will now have two chances per year each at cracking JEE and NEET exams. JEE Mains for entrance into the IITs will be held twice, and the same goes for NEET. The best of both scores will be accepted as the candidate’s final result. Also, it isn’t mandatory for students to write both. They can choose either one.
On one hand student fraternity is quiet happy to get two chances per year to score higher and therefore bag a better seat in a premier institution stands doubled. But is it only the students who are happy? The private coaching centres which are minting huge amount to give coaching for these entrance exams are equally happy. The Institutes will get huge amount of money as the formats of the tests are going to be entirely different. The students now won’t have to wait a year to improve their ranks. JEE (Main) will be held in January and April. If you are not happy with the January test, you can take another chance in April. NEET (medical entrance test) will be held in February and May. Measure the pressure building up on the students. Also, don’t forget that there are regular Class 12 examinations in-between. Calling the decision a “student-friendly” move overlooks the fact that, in all probability, most of the students will take the exams twice. Who knows, you may get a better score next time! Also, there are many who prepare for both engineering and medical entrances.
But who all are beneficiaries?
Obviously, Private Engineering Colleges who are struggling every year to fill up their seats are quiet hopeful of filling up their vacant seats. So severe is the condition that states like Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan do not want any new technical institutions to be set up. Two exams a year may actually help them get more takers.
The coaching centres will get more admission round the year, more and more students will enroll and will make their best to clear entrance same year.
As the entrance tests get new custody, the format is also going to change. All these tests will be online. Students will have the flexibility to choose a convenient date and there will be various sets of questions. We can only hope that the ministry has considered the rural students who may not be as tech-savvy as digital India thinks them to be. Meanwhile, the training institutes elsewhere will find a legitimate reason to double their fees.
Lastly, the NTA itself, in 2017, the Union Cabinet had approved the creation of the National Testing Agency as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation. It will be chaired by an educationist appointed by the MHRD. It will be given a one-time grant of Rs 25 crore to start its operation. Then the agency will become financially self-sustainable. About 40 lakh students appearing in various examinations, often twice, will certainly help in the process of making the NIT self-reliant.