JEE Mains application forms available again, students can apply until 24 May

The special window has been opened by the HRD ministry to help students who had to drop their plans to study abroad in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

Representational image of college students | Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Students, who dropped their plans to study abroad in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and now want to study in India, have one last chance to enrol in Indian institutions.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has opened up the window of submitting fresh forms and completing pending forms for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains, the common entrance exam for engineering colleges other than IITs.

Forms for JEE Mains can be submitted, starting 19 May to 24 May, the National Testing Agency (NTA) said in a notice Tuesday.

According to NTA officials, the government has been receiving representations from a number of students, who had to drop their plans to study abroad due to the coronavirus crisis across the globe. 

“Many students, who had not applied to Indian institutions or for entrance exams like JEE and others, would have had to waste a year because their abroad plans were not materialising. Hence, we opened up the window to apply for exams,” an official from the NTA told ThePrint.

JEE Mains exams in July

A student who qualifies the JEE Mains can sit for JEE Advanced on the basis of a merit list. JEE Advanced screens students applying for Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had earlier this month announced the revised schedule for JEE Mains and Advanced, which had to be postponed due of the lockdown. 

Exams for JEE Mains have been scheduled from 18-23 July, while JEE Advanced will be held in August.

According to a report by QS, nearly 47 per cent STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students changed their plans to study abroad in the wake of the pandemic.

The figure for non-STEM students is at 51.59 per cent. Non-STEM students have changed their plans after considering the lower return on investment and less chances of employability, according to the QS report.