JEE to contain questions 'strictly' from Class 12 syllabus

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In a move aimed at curbing the influence of coaching centres in engineering entrance tests, the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) exam may soon consist of questions from the Class 12 (Class XII) syllabus alone.

A proposal in this regard is currently being evaluated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. If approved, it will be incorporated next year.

"Right now, there's an impression that the JEE exam pattern is very difficult. Such impressions are fueling the businesses of coaching centres. The ministry is, therefore, considering the possibility to include questions strictly from Class 12 syllabus in the JEE exam," said Ghanshyam Goel, MHRD spokesperson.

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Under the new proposal, students will only have to concentrate on their Class 12 subjects to prepare for the JEE for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other top engineering institutes. This will also remove the need for separate coaching classes.

Earlier this month, HRD minster Smriti Irani announced the launch of an IIT preparation web portal and app. The platform, called IITPAL, will include a bank of questions from IIT entrance examination papers in the last 50 years.

On the same lines, the MHRD is also planning to introduce a new testing system - the National Authority for Testing (NAT) - by the end of this year or early next year.

The NAT, which is similar to the US-based SAT exam, is expected to change the evaluation process of the JEE. The details of the same are expected to be announced within a few months.

In a report, the Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP), which is working out the details of NAT, stated:

"Another important issue is the proliferation of coaching centres. This has become a very large industry and had made students too much dependent on coaching centres. This has hurt the school education in a big way and also poses a major financial and logistics burden on the parents. A rough estimate puts the revenues of the coaching industry at Rs 24,000 crores per 3 year (approx $ 4 billion). This presumes that 12 lakh students attend coaching for 2 years and pay Rs. 1.00 lakh per year".

"The actual number of years for coaching may be more than this and hence the revenues maybe greater than the amount given above. It is desired that the dependence of students on the coaching centres be reduced."

Also Read: 'I couldn't clear JEE Mains and my parents won't talk to me'