HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Friday, 17 July announced that the basic criteria of scoring at least 75% marks or ranking among the top 20 percentile in class 12 board exams for admissions in IITs has been relaxed for this year, since many examinations could not be conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister took to Twitter to make the announcement.
The basic criteria for admissions to IITs, apart from qualifying in the JEE (Advanced), is the eligibility to secure either minimum score of 75% marks in class XII Board exams or rank among the top 20 percentile in their qualifying examinations.
“Due to the partial cancellation of class XII exams by several Boards, Joint Admission Board (JAB) has decided to relax the eligibility criterion for #JEE (Advanced) 2020 qualified candidates this time,” Nishank tweeted.
“Qualified candidates who have passed class XII examinations will now be eligible for admissions irrespective of marks obtained,” he announced.
Following a decision by CBSE, ICSE and others to grade students on the basis of board papers already conducted, the Joint Implementation committee (JIC), which comprises of JEE Chairpersons from different IITs, had discussed the disruption and change in the marking system. During this meeting, the idea of doing away with the board exam criterion was proposed and discussed.
“There was a consensus that the IITs, instead, should insist on rank holders to have passed their Board exams this year,” a JIC member had earlier said, who did not wish to be identified. “This would be a one-time exception.”JIC Member to The Indian Express
Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, JIC member said that if implemented, the idea of doing away with the board exam criterion would not make much of a difference as very few students who are the top scorers in JEE exams score below 75 percent or are not in the top 20 percentile of board examinations
Hence, “doing away (with this criterion) for one admission cycle isn’t going to make a big difference,” the member said.
For the time being, JEE Main 2020 have been postponed and will be held across two shifts from 1-6 September. JEE advanced, written by top 2,50,000 candidates from JEE Main and the gateway to IITs, will be held on 27 September.
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