The HRD ministry has long been flouting with a number of examinations and their patterns throughout the country. This time, it is the JEE!
Earlier, HRD ministry had planned to reform the Joint Entrance Examination by introducing an aptitude test that would filter students for a single entrance test for admission to IITs/NITs and engineering institutions but now it has shelved its plan.
It dropped the idea because HRD's department of school pointed out that an aptitude test might not find favor with students from rural and semi-urban backgrounds.
It tried convincing IITs for conducting a single entrance test without the aptitude test but they refused, as IITs want to conduct something like JEE (advanced) in which fewer students appear after clearing JEE (main).
One IIT director said that it's a misconception that students from rural background would have lagged behind in aptitude test. They are not so good in language but superior to urban students, so the idea shouldn't have been shelved.
The idea was to create a National Authority for Testing that would have conducted an aptitude test to shortlist 4 lakh students who would have appeared for JEE. From JEE, ranks were to be issued to 40,000-plus students who could get admission in IITs and NITs.