JEE-Main, NEET to be held twice a year from 2019
India's national level engineering and medical examinations, namely, JEE Main and NEET, will be held twice a year in an online mode, starting 2019, said HRD minister Prakash Javadekar in an announcement at a press conference in New Delhi today. Javadekar also said that JEE Main and NEET will be held by a newly formed examination conducting body, the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Other examinations which the NTA will be responsible for
Apart from the JEE Main and NEET, the UGC NET and CMAT examinations will also be held by the newly-formed NTA. JEE Main exams will be held in January and April while NEET will be held twice in February and May, said Javadekar. Currently, the CBSE is the nodal agency with the responsibility of organizing JEE Main and NEET.
What the NTA essentially is
As envisioned by the Union Budget of 2017-18, the Union Cabinet held a meeting in November 2017 and approved the creation of the NTA as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the country. The NTA will be chaired by an eminent educationist appointed by the HRD ministry.
An excerpt from the Union Cabinet's earlier statement on NTA
"Establishment of NTA will benefit about 40 lakh students appearing in various entrance examinations. It will...bring in high reliability, standardized difficulty level for assessing the aptitude, intelligence and problem solving abilities of the students," said a Union Cabinet statement earlier.
Details of the NTA's inner workings
The eminent educationist appointed by the government will be the CEO of the NTA, as well as Director General to the government. The NTA will also have a Board of Governors comprising members representing user institutions. The Director General will be assisted by nine verticals headed by accomplished academicians and experts.
The NTA will be given a one-time Rs. 25cr grant
As per a Cabinet meeting decision, the NTA will be given a one-time grant of Rs. 25cr to start its operations for the first year, following which it will be financially self-sustainable. In order to serve rural requirements, the NTA would locate test centres at district/sub-district levels as far as possible, and would provide hands on training to the students.
