The enrollment of candidates for the National-Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (UG) from Tamil Nadu this year has seen a significant drop. The state-wise distribution of candidates and centres shared by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday shows there were 1,34,714 candidates in 188 centres last year whereas there are 1,17,990 candidates in 238 centres this year.
The state has shown a drop in enrolment in JEE (Mains) as well — from 45,440 in 2019 to 53,765 in 2020.
The NTA on Tuesday announced that the number of examination centres has increased from 570 to 660 in case of JEE Main and 2,546 to 3,843 for NEET. Around 15.97 lakh candidates have registered for the latter.
The local politics in Tamil Nadu factors in the mandatory NEET quite prominently. The regional parties have protested as they believe students from the CBSE board have an advantage over those from regional boards in various states, especially Tamil Nadu. The students have also expressed apprehension over losing out to aspirants from other regions.
The state assembly under the Edappadi K Palaniswami government had passed bills in 2017 to scrap NEET. The President’s approval is still awaited.
On the other hand, the enrolment of candidates from Bihar has shown an increase from 56,907 across 84 centres in 2019 to 78,960 across 192 centres this year. There is a marked increase in Uttar Pradesh as well, with 1,39,497 candidates in 188 centres last year and 1,66,582 in 320 centres this year.
The rise in enrolment in Bihar and UP comes amid a chorus to cancel the exams scheduled to be held next month amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Comments
0 comment