There has been a growing rift between the centre and the IITs. Considered the premier colleges in India, Indian Institutes of Technology are refusing to change their entrance exam as per NTA. Whereas the government is looking forward to make arrangements for NTA to conduct engineering entrance exam, IITs wish to go ahead with JEE Advanced 2019. This is the third such where the IITs have refused to give in to the government’s demands. Previously, they had said no to making JEE Advanced easier and increasing seats in B.Tech program.
National Testing Agency or NTA is the new exam conducting body in India which will be holding all those exams that CBSE has been conducting until now for higher education. This includes JEE Main 2019, NEET, UGC NET. Its purpose is to free the Central Board of Secondary Education to focus on holding board exams and education at school level. Later on, NTA will also conduct exams held by AICTE that include CMAT and GPAT.
Technically JEE Advanced and CAT are two major Indian entrance exams which are not under the umbrella of NTA. For them, no such decision was taken as to whether they would be merged with NTA exams or not. On one hand JEE Advanced is conducted by IITs, and on the other hand, IIMs conduct CAT. However the centre had written to the IITs to seek their opinion.
Authorities at IITs are against admitting students through NTA exam. In their opinion, JEE Advanced is considered one of the largest entrance exams in the world. Students prepare for the exam for several months. Experts from IITs only should look after its entrance exam, checking of papers, and admission, they say.
Another aspect that the institute wishes to avoid is concerns of paper leak. When external agencies are held responsible for conducting exams, there are issues of such nature.
A final decision on what will happen: Will NTA conduct JEE Advanced 2019 or only JEE Main 2019, will be announced most probably by end of this year. What do you think? Should JEE Advanced be scrapped or not?
