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JEE (Main) to be held in more languages: Nishank
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From next year the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for admission to leading engineering colleges will be held in several regional languages, Union Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said on Thursday.
The minister said this was keeping in view the strong focus on promoting the mother tongue in the National Education Policy (NEP).
“In line with the vision of NEP 2020, the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of JEE (Main) has decided to conduct the JEE (Main) examination in more regional languages of India,” Nishank said in a tweet.
The minister added that the languages of states which conduct admission to their own engineering colleges in regional tongues will be added.
“The examination will also be conducted in regional languages where entry to State Engineering Colleges is decided based on an examination (conducted in regional language). State language of States who admit students based on the JEE (Main) will also be included under this,” he said.
Presently, the JEE (Main) exam is held in Hindi, English and Gujarati while several other states have raised the issue from time to time.
“This decision has far-reaching implications as Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji has pointed out that top-scoring countries in PISA examination use mother tongue as a medium of instruction. The decision of JAB will help students comprehend questions better & score higher,” Nishank said in another tweet.
Language has been an emotive and a political issue across states in the country.
Recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked if the exam can be held in Gujarati then why not in Bengali.
The ruling BJP has also favoured the mother tongue.
Significantly, the Education minister’s announcement came on a day when the BJP in its manifesto for Bihar also spoke in favour of using Hindi as the medium of instruction for medical and technical education.
In a promise made, the party has spoken of introducing Hindi as a medium of instruction for medical, engineering and other technical courses.
