JEE, NEET may be held twice a year

The upcoming National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in online mode twice a year, the government told Lok Sabha on Monday.

It, however, did not give any timeline for the introduction of the biennial entrance tests.

The JEE is currently conducted once in a year in two parts - JEE Main and JEE Advance. While JEE Main is held by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for admission to National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other centrally funded technical institutions, a joint admission board of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) conducts JEE Advance for admitting students across all 23 IITs.

The CBSE, which holds about nine entrance and recruitment tests, also conducts the NEET once in a year.

"The NTA will initially conduct those entrance examinations which are currently being conducted by the CBSE. Other examinations will be taken up gradually after the NTA is fully geared up. The entrance examinations will be conducted in online mode at least twice a year, thereby giving adequate opportunity to candidates to bring out their best," minister of state for Human Resource Development,  Upendra Kushwaha, told the Lok Sabha.

To "serve" the requirements of rural students, the NTA will locate its centres at sub-district or district level and "undertake hands-on training to students as far as possible," the minister said.

He was replying to a member's question as to whether the government had any proposal to conduct medical and engineering admission examinations - NEET and JEE - twice a year "to reduce pressure on students".

The Union Cabinet recently approved setting up of NTA with a one-time grant of Rs 25 crore to enable it to become operational.

Official sources said that though work is in progress to set up the agency as early as possible, it is expected to start conducting entrance examinations from 2019 only. "Once it becomes fully operational, it will start conducting multiple examinations including biennial JEE and NEET," they said.