JEE Main 2021: The first session of the Joint Entrance Exam Main, or JEE Main 2021, is expected to be held in February instead of January, according to officials. An official notification about the JEE Main 2021 registration date is expected soon and the application process would start next month.
Generally, the National Testing Agency (NTA) holds JEE Main in January and April but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected the academic schedule across boards very badly this year.
“As the engineering admission is still underway, it is being considered that JEE Main 2021 be pushed to February. This will give a chance to students who were not satisfied with the choice of branch or their score,” a senior official said.
“Rising number of coronavirus cases is also a factor,” the official added.
The increasing number of COVID-19 cases and engineering admission for this year still being underway, are among the reasons behind authorities contemplating the move.
The Joint Entrance Examination Advanced is the admission test for IIITs, NITs and GFTIs all over the country. It is also the clearing exam for the IIT admission test — JEE Advanced.
This year, the April session of JEE Main was delayed twice and held finally in September, following government guidelines, despite protests.
In order to help a larger group of students, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in October announced that JEE Main will now be conducted in more regional languages, starting from 2021. At present, the entrance test is granted in English, Hindi and Gujarati.
This year, a total of 8.58 lakh candidates had registered for the JEE Main exam out of whom only 74 per cent of them had qualified for the JEE Main examination.
In 2019, NTA has announced JEE Main exam dates in August and began registration for the JEE Main January exam on September 2.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, during the 57th General Council Meeting of NCERT, suggested a 50% reduction of syllabus of all classes and that JEE Main 2021 and NEET exams are held on the basis of the reduced syllabus.
“The current academic session is seriously disturbed due to ongoing Corona crises. The syllabus for all classes will be reduced to 50% because of the continued loss of school days. Next year’s entrance exams like JEE and NEET should also be based on this reduced syllabus to align with the current year’s class syllabus,” Mr Sisodia said.
The agency, however, is yet to confirm any such move.
