NIT Admissions likely To Be Based On JEE Main Scores Only: Irani

Govt panel likely to recommend scrapping of weightage given to marks obtained in board examinations. A final decision on the issue could come early next month when the HRD minister Smriti Irani chairs a meeting of the NIT council, which would take a call on the committee's recommendations.

Admissions to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) from next year could be based entirely on JEE-Main scores, with a government-appointed panel likely to recommend scrapping of weightage given to marks obtained in board examinations.

"We would be recommending scrapping of weightages given to board marks," director of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and a member of the panel, Devang Khakhar, has said. A final decision on the issue could come early next month when the human resource development minister Smriti Irani chairs a meeting of the NIT council, which would take a call on the committee's recommendations.

As per the existing policy, 40% weightage is given to board marks and 60% to the JEE-Main score for admission to a NIT.

Official sources said the committee took into account several factors while deciding on its recommendations that included delays witnessed this year in the common counselling for admissions to the IITs and NITs.

According to PTI, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had failed to publish the JEE-Main ranking list on time for the counselling and blamed it on the delay by the state boards in submitting class XII marks. The ranks are decided after giving weightage to the class XII results.

The delay had a cascading effect that led to the postponement of admissions to the IITs, causing anxiety among students and parents. A committee member said the reform in the JEE exams introduced by the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government by giving weightage to the board results had failed to achieve the desired goals.

"It was felt that the reform would put an end to the menace of coaching, but on the contrary, more students went for coaching to better their scores in board exams. "Besides, attracting increased number of rural students into the premier technical institutes met with little success as the admission (rural:urban) ratio during the last three years remained practically unchanged at 30:70," he said.

While recommending scrapping of the weightage system, the panel is likely to suggest securing 60% marks or 70 percentile in class XII, whichever is lower, as a criteria for eligibility of a candidate to appear for the examination conducted for admissions to the premier technical institutes.