Key points:
- The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) or JEE (Main) for the year 2021 may be conducted in February instead of the traditional January.
- There are only one or two big assessments that have yet to be conducted by the NTA and will be held soon.
- The CBSE and other boards often have to take similar issues into account when they chalk out their test schedule.
- Of the 858,395 registered applicants, 649,612 took the exam this year according to the results.
- In 2019, 1,105,514 applicants registered for the second attempt at JEE (Main), which took place in April.
As the National Testing Agency (NTA), as well as the education ministry, consider ways of getting the academic cycle back on track, the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) or JEE (Main) for the year 2021 may be conducted in February instead of the traditional January.
It is also possible that the board examinations administered by the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) will be pushed a few weeks forward.
NTA may postpone the exam:
The NTA could postpone most of the competitive examinations it was scheduled to hold this year as per to a person informed of the developments and will collaborate with the ministry and other bodies concerned to plan out the program for the next year.
The only two exams conducted by the NTA:
There are only one or two big assessments that have yet to be conducted by the NTA and will be held soon.
Therefore it is possible that some readjustments will be seen in the new schedule when it is drawn up, said a person aware of the developments.
The JEE (Main) test for admission to engineering colleges takes place twice a year with the first period scheduled for January alone.
Academic Activity disrupted this year:
In a year that has seen highly disrupted academic Activity, however, the second cycle of its JEE (Main) exam was delayed from April to September as well as conducted in the midst of the pandemic with great difficulty and precautions.
While a final decision will be made in the coming days, the increasing number of cases must also be taken into account by policymakers.
Similar issues faced by CBSC and other boards:
The CBSE and other boards often have to take similar issues into account when they chalk out their test schedule.
A section of the syllabus has already been pruned by the CBSE to ensure that the kids are not under excessive stress.
The first test may take place in January:
The JEE (Main) can be taken twice a year by candidates. The first test takes place in January and the second test takes place in April. In 2020, owing to this Covid-19 pandemic, the second test was unable to take place in April; instead, it was conducted in September.
As per the Union Education Ministry data:
According to data shared by the Union Ministry of Education in the Rajya Sabha, over 200,000 candidates did not take the JEE (Main) exam conducted in September, a figure that is more than double the number of absentees the previous year.
Of the 858,395 registered applicants, 649,612 took the exam this year according to the results.
In 2019, 1,105,514 applicants registered for the second attempt at JEE (Main), which took place in April. According to the information shared in the Upper House, 1,025,128 of them took the exams.
