National Testing Agency (NTA) To Conduct JEE Main, NEET Exams Twice From Next Year

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announced today that JEE Main and NEET will be held twice in a year from 2019 in online mode by National Testing Agency (NTA).

 Highlights

1. NTA, instead of CBSE, will hold NET, NEET, JEE Main exams from now
2. The NTA would also conduct CMAT and GPAT.
3. NEET and JEE Main will be conducted twice in a year

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• Union education minister Prakash Javadekar has announced that the national level engineering and medical entrance examinations - JEE Main and NEET - will be held twice a year from 2019 in online mode. The minister announced this in a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday. According to the minister, Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET) will be held by newly formed examination conducting agency, National Testing Agency (NTA).

Apart from NEET and JEE Main, NTA will also conduct National Eligibility Test (NET), Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) and Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) exams from now on.
PTI reported that National Eligibility Test (NET) would be conducted in December and this would be the first exam to be conducted by the newly formed body.  
These competitive exams will be held on multiple dates, the minister added.
New National Testing Agency (NTA), Exam Schedule Announced For NEET, JEE: All You Need To Know
JEE Main exams will be held in January and April while NEET will be held twice in February and May.


Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is currently the nodal agency responsible for organising JEE Main and NEET examinations.
According to the minister, the candidates who will be appearing for these tests will be allowed to use the best score from the examinations in counselling process.
The minister also said that syllabus, question formats, language and fees for the exams would not be changed.
"The exams will be more secure and at par with international norms. There will be no issues of leakage and it would be more student friendly, open, scientific and a leak-proof system," Mr. Javadekar told reporters.

With the introduction of National Testing Agency, CBSE has been relieved from competitive examination duties. 

"The NTA would benefit the students and they would have the option of going to computer centres from August-end to practice for the exams    The tests would be computer-based," he added.
The exams would be held over a span of four-five days and students would have the option of choosing the dates, he said.
The time table of the exams to be conducted by NTA would be uploaded on the ministry's website.
However, the IITs would continue to conduct Joint Entrance Examination-Advanced exam.

National Testing Agency (NTA)

In pursuance of the Budget Announcement 2017-18, the Union Cabinet in its meeting held on November 10, 2017 approved creation of the NTA as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the country.
In order to serve the requirements of the rural students, NTA would locate the centres at sub-district/district level and as far as possible would provide hands-on training to the students.
According to HRD Ministry, NTA will be chaired by an eminent educationist appointed by the ministry. The CEO of NTA will be the Director General to be appointed by the Government and there will be a Board of Governors comprising members from user institutions. The Director General will be assisted by 9 verticals headed by academicians/ experts.
According to a cabinet meeting decision, NTA will be given a one-time grant of Rs.25 crore from the Government of India to start its operation in the first year. Thereafter, it will be financially self-sustainable.
"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," said a union cabinet statement earlier.

 Career option after 12th for students from Humanities stream
As CBSE class 12th board exams are nearing their end, some of the predominant questions echoing in every Humanities/Arts student's mind are: What do we do next? What are your prospective career options? Which courses should we apply for? So on and so forth.
Here, we try and answer these very questions and clear the mist of confusion clouding every student's mind.
Arts or Humanities is a very diverse stream and mainly deals with subjects like literature, Sociology, Psychology, Political Science etc. The career horizon for those who belong to this stream of study is limit less. Students can choose from a range of career options such as teaching, social work, law, politics, business, television, journalism etc.
Also, the discipline has a lot to offer when it comes to undergraduate courses. Few of the popular courses students from the arts background can opt for are as follows:
B.A in Economics: This course is a specialized academic degree in the social sciences encompassing both literate and quantitative courses. Students from this field of specialization have a variety of career options to choose from, such as strategic pricing, cost analysis, marketing research, statistical forecasting. The main employers in this field are multi-national corporations, financial institutions, unions and government organizations.
B.A Political Science: This course deals with the study of state, nation, government, and politics and policies of government, at the international as well as international levels. Students are educated on topics such as economic conditions, world terrorism, international relations, environmental issues etc. Students from this course can carve a niche for themselves in the field of politics, international relations, social work/research etc.
B.A Sociology: This course deals with the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. It is an appropriate discipline for anyone who wishes to pursue a career in social work, journalism, teaching, research etc. There is a demand for students from this field in many international organizations such as the United Nations as well as a wide range of NGOs and social work organizations prefer recruiting candidates with a Sociology background.
B.A Journalism: This course is for anyone and everyone who has the flair of weaving words into well written articles or the knack of verbal communication. In this course the student is exposed to subjects such as politics, social and economic issues, entertainment etc. The course not only opens the door to jobs in a number of media organizations, but also presents opportunities in the communications wing of many high eng business organizations.
Students who wish to apply for any of the above courses can look out for admission notifications of the following universities:
1. University of Delhi
2. University of Punjab
3. Jamia Millia Islamia
4. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
5. Pune University
6. Christ University
7. Madras Christian College

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