Undeterred By XII Board Practical Exams, 9.65 Lakh Students Register For JEE Mains-1 Thanks To New Facilities

Despite Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains-1 dates (6-20 January 2019) being coincided with class XII board practical examination, over 9.65 lakh aspirants have registered for the examination reports The Times of India.

Aspirants would get another chance to write the exam in April. However, according to reports, the registrations for 2019 January was less than JEE Main of April 2018 by 2.5 lakh.

Sources say that multiple dates for the examination and a shift to the online system is the reason for a higher number of registrations this year. The number is found to be higher than expected. National Testing Agency (NTA) was expecting 6 lakh registration for JEE Main-1, TOI quoted an official as saying.

A similar trend was observed in National Eligibility Test (NET), despite being conducted on July 2018 and results were declared a month after it, there were 9.96 lakh registrations for December 2018 exam.

Reports suggest that the registrations for April 2018 exams would also rise as many candidates who didn’t register for January exams due to board exams and those who have taken January exams would try to improve their scores.

TOI quotes MHRD sources, say engineering education is still male-dominated as only 29 per cent applicants are female. The number of SC applicants is 9 per cent and even lower 3.7 per cent for ST. 38 transgender candidates have also registered.

In contrast, UGC NET has 55 per cent female applicants, and 19 per cent are from the SC category and 8 per cent for ST category. Most of the applicants for both JEE Mains and UGC NET are from urban areas, 54 and 57 per cent respectively.

JEE Mains will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the first time and will be entirely computer-based. The exams will be held across 276 cities in India.