Engineering and medical, two of the most sought career choices in Indian, are often clouded with controversy and uncertainty. The recent talk of the town is “Will NTA conduct JEE and NEET in December or not?” Every day a new narrative focusing the same is published online, only resulting in further ambiguity. It is high time to probe the surge before students across the nation put thier hope on JEE Main December 2018 and NEET December 2018.
How it all started?
Well, it all began when a reputed regional newspaper published an article. While the news targeted to sow speculation, the language of the article rather confirmed it. Later on, in an audio recording, the reporter of the news article cleared that it is a surmise and no official proof supporting it is available. The copy of the news reports that started it all is as follows:
The truth behind the reports was explored and brought out. Finally, when the discussion started to mix with the dust, the reports of NTA conducting JEE and NEET not only in December 2018 but also in May 2019 started surfacing. Now, the student across the nation is more focused on finding about the December and May exam than focusing on JoSAA Counselling 2018 and School Boards.
5 Reasons Why NTA wil Not Conduct JEE Main and NEET in December 2018 and then again in May 2019
The matter escalated pretty quickly but there are certain very rational reasons which indicate that NTA will not be conducting JEE Main and NEET in December 2018. These are:
# Difficult to Follow Timeline – To conduct a national level examination, minimum of 4 to 5 months are needed. If NTA wants to conduct Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main or National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) then it needs to release the first notification in July 2018, followed by application form in August-September and admit card by November 2018 end. Now, everything is possible, yet the chances are less.
# Where is National Testing Agency? – All we know is that Vineet Joshi is the director general of NTA. He is a former Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) director. Other than this, there is no other information about NTA. The Agency is definitely existing in papers and in thoughts of MHRD. However, the actual existence of it is not in sight yet.
# Holding JEE Main and NEET Together will be a Task – Approximately 13 lakh candidates apply for NEET and 11 lakh for JEE Main, every year. The audience of both the exams is of same age group and smaller section of it collide as well. But, it will be very difficult to conduct two such huge entrance examinations in the same month. Both the papers will be held at national level and thousands of exam centers will be needed. Also, JEE Main was held abroad as well this year and conducting it again in a foreign country will be a challenge in itself.
# Then Conduct National Level Exam in May 2019? Not At All – If the entrance exams are held in December 2018 then the result of it will be either announced by the end of the month or in January 2019. Which leave NTA with only 4 months to conduct the exam again. Keeping the time needed for conducting the exam, this again does not sound feasible.
# A Proper Official Notice for Online Exam – NEET has only been conducted in pen and paper mode and even for JEE Main, students mostly opt for the offline examination. Now, the word is out there that NTA will conduct the exam in online mode but there is no official notification confirming it. NTA will have to inform students about scrapping offline paper option, months before announcing the exam. It will be unjust if a prior official announcement is not made.
These are some of the reasons which make us think that JEE Main and NEET will not be held in December 2018 and then again in May 2019. What is your take on the matter? Do you think NTA is ready to conduct two of the biggest entrance examinations this early? Also, is it a good idea to conduct the exams in December 2018? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
