Topper Souradeep Das says he doesn’t want to study engineering.
A student of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith (RKMV) in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district topped the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations (WBJEE), the results of which were declared on Friday.
WBJEE Board Vice-Chairperson Dilip Kumar Mitra said this year the counselling process would be held online because of the ongoing pandemic. “It took us some time to publish the result this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The counseling process will start online next week. Tentatively, it will start on August 12, but we will announce the final date soon,” he added.
WBJEE is the common entrance examination for admission to undergraduate courses in engineering and technology, and pharmacy in universities, government colleges, and private institutions in the state.
Souradeep Das, the topper, is from Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur district. He told The Indian Express he wants to pursue a career in research, and does not want to study engineering in the state.
“I have already got admission to IISc Bangalore through Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) scholarship programme. I will study Bachelor of Science (BSc) there and will make a career in research,” Das said, adding that he was also aiming to crack JEE Advanced and gain admission to the computer science programme at IIT-Bombay.
Subham Ghosh of DAV Model School in Durgapur bagged the second rank while Sreemonti Dey of Delhi Public School (DPS) Ruby Park in Kolkata came third. She was the state topper in the JEE Main exams.
Dey said she wants to pursue computer science. Her school principal Joyoti Chaudhuri congratulated her.
“Sreemonti Dey was the state topper in JEE MAIN 2020, scoring above 99.99 percentile. She has once again proved her excellence by securing the third position in WBJEE-2020. In CBSE Class-12 board examination she secured the highest marks in science stream from our school by securing 98.2 per cent. Sreemonti is not only academically brilliant but also very polite and sensitive. We wish her success in all her endeavours,” she said.
Around 99 per cent of 73,119 candidates secured ranks this time. In the exams, marks are deducted for incorrect answers, and students are given ranks if they score more than zero.
Of the 72,298 rank-holders, 76 per cent are boys. According to Mitra, 71 per cent of the successful candidates are from West Bengal, while 51 per cent of such candidates are from schools affiliated to the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE).
Among the top ten candidates, seven are from schools registered to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), two are from the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board, and one from the state board.
There are 34,891 seats in pharmacy and engineering courses in state-run and private institutions in Bengal.