NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) and JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) are among the toughest entrance examinations in India. Every year, millions of students register themselves to sit for these prestigious exams, in order to get admission in engineering & architect courses, or medical & dental colleges, respectively. These exams are the gateway to all the top universities and colleges like IITs, NITs, etc. for medical and engineering courses.
To help students get their dream rank in NEET and JEE, there are over millions of coaching centres which test students before allowing them to undergo coaching, with their own entrance test. Most of these coaching centres also charge astronomical fees, which is not affordable for many students. With the vision of curbing this increasing burden on young aspirants, government has declared free coaching for NEET and JEE, 2019.
The NTA (National Testing Agency) which replaced the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as the exam conducting body for important national level examinations like, NEET UG, JEE Main, UGC NET, CMAT & GPAT, suggested to conduct the coaching for JEE and NEET through its network of 2697 Test Practice Centres (TPCs) across the country.
From next year, the National Testing Agency (NTA) will be converting 2,697 test centres into coaching centres to educate and guide aspiring students of JEE and NEET for free. An HRD minister confirmed that the practice centres will start functioning from September 8. These centres will provide coaching to students free of cost, so, students with financial problems need not worry any more.
While this news of providing free coaching for NEET & JEE brings a sense of relaxation among all the students, on the other hand, this is probably a bad news for numerous private coaching centres, who charge money for the same.
The ministry official added that the purpose is to turn all the centres into teaching centres. These centres will not charge any fees and so it will be very beneficial for talented students from weak financial background, who have aspirations but cannot afford to go to a coaching centre.
Coaching to benefit semi-urban, rural candidates
The ministry official also said that rural and semi-urban candidates will also get benefited. The teaching component of the entire plan is expected to commence from May 2019.
Initially, NTA will allow candidates to sit for a mock test intended to test students for the forthcoming JEE Main 2019 in January. Only those students, who have successfully registered themselves with the testing agency through the website or mobile app, will be eligible to sit for the mock tests for NEET-UG and UCG-NET.
Once the results for these mock tests are out, one can analyse their result with NTA mentors, rectify and learn from their mistakes at these testing centres. To sit for these mock tests, students will first have to register via mobile app or website and then select the slots at the test practice centres.
However, the teaching component will begin only when first set of exams have been conducted, for which, the dates have been already announced by the NTA.
The HRD ministry official clarified that initially, mock test will only be conducted for JEE- Main, as NEET-UG is not yet a computer-based test. NTA has already launched the mobile application and website (nta.ac.in) for registering for JEE-Main and UCG-NET mock tests. Interested students can register themselves till September 8, 2018.
The testing agency will also introduce a mobile application for students to identify their closest testing centres.
Posts by SpeakBindas Editorial Team.