In a major development, the Ministry of Education (MoE) on Wednesday evening announced the exam schedule of JEE-Main and the number of times the exams will be held in 2021.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced that the JEE-Main exams will be held four times a year--February, March, April, and May. The first examination will be held between February 23-26.


"The students will be able to give the exam at their own discretion anytime in these four turns. Will be able to choose the exam month as per his choice. A student takes the exam four times, in which the best of four will be counted," said Pokhriyal.



Earlier, he said that he examined the suggestions received for conducting JEE-Mains 2021 and the schedule will be announced as per that. "Thank you all for sharing your constructive suggestions regarding JEE (Main) exams. We have got your suggestions examined. I will be announcing the schedule, the number of times the exam will be held at 6 PM today," Nishank tweeted.


In an online interaction with students last week, the Minister had announced that the government is considering the possibility of holding the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) three or four times a year and a proposal is being evaluated on reducing the number of questions that students can attempt in JEE (Main) 2021.


The Minister has already clarified that there will be no change in the syllabus for medical entrance exam NEET or engineering entrance exam JEE-Main 2021. Regarding the class 10 and 12 board exams, the minister had said the consultations with stakeholders are in progress for deciding the dates of board examinations and it will be announced soon based on the feedback from the stakeholders.


"The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is yet to take a decision on the dates of conducting board examinations including practicals. In case students are not able to do practical in classes before the examinations, alternatives to practical examinations will be explored," he had said.


Schools across the country were closed in March to contain the spread of COVID-19 and partially reopened in some states from October 15. However, a few states decided to keep them closed in view of a spike in coronavirus cases.


The board exams that were being conducted in March had to be postponed mid-way. The exams were later cancelled, and the results were announced on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme.


Competitive exams like JEE and NEET were also postponed twice this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been demands for postponement of board exams to May in view of the continued closure of schools and teaching-learning activities being completely online.