NTA To Conduct JEE and NEET Twice A Year

The National Testing Agency (NTA) may conduct JEE exam, along with the NEET might be conducted twice a year to give an opportunity to the students to bring out their best performance; HRD minister of state told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) Upendra Kushwaha said, in response to a written question in the Lower House of Parliament, the Centre was setting up a National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous and self- sustained premier testing organisation, to conduct the entrance exams for the higher educational institutions.

According to a statement from union government, establishment of NTA will benefit about 40 lakh students appearing in various entrance examinations. It will relieve CBSE, AICTE and other agencies from responsibility of conducting these entrance examinations, and also bring in high reliability, standardized difficulty level for assessing the aptitude, intelligence and problem solving abilities of the students.

Upendra Kushwaha said, "The NTA will initially conduct those entrance exams which are held by the CBSE. The exams will be conducted online at least twice a year, thereby giving an adequate opportunity to the candidates to bring out their best."

Both the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical colleges and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to engineering colleges are currently conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The CBSE has conveyed its inhibitions to the HRD ministry about conducting the exams in future, saying they are overburdened with the massive exercise.