The Week In Education: NEET 2021 date, JEE Main result, BTech eligibility

NEW DELHI: In an exceptionally busy week for education, the National Testing Agency announced the NEET 2021 date on Friday. The national level medical entrance exam is scheduled to be conducted in a single shift on August 1 in offline mode.

Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations revised its schedule for the Class 10 ICSE and Class 12 ISC exams 2021; results were declared for the first session of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main 2021) for admission to engineering; and major policies were drafted or revised.

The last included a significant relaxation in eligibility criteria for admission to undergraduate engineering -- BTech and BE -- courses.

Delhi Government sanctioned over Rs 82 crore in salaries for colleges it funds but the strike Delhi University Teachers' Association launched continues.

These were the most significant developments in education in the past week.

NEET UG 2021

NTA NEET 2021 exam date announced at nta.ac.in; registration to start soon

The date for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, or NEET 2021, has been announced. It will be held on August 1. The exam date for admission to undergraduate programmes in medicine and allied fields was announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which can be accessed at nta.ac.in. The form release will likely come soon after the information brochure is released. The notice from NTA has confirmed that NEET 2021 will be held just once in pen and paper mode.

AICTE changes BTech, BE eligibility; maths, physics optional

The AICTE has done away with physics and mathematics as compulsory subjects for BTech or BE courses to help students from “diverse backgrounds”. The AICTE has asked the universities to offer suitable bridge courses for such students. The entrance exams such as JEE Main, JEE Advanced and state common entrance tests or CETS remain unaffected.

AICTE allows top universities to teach management online

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issued fresh guidelines for allowing technical education institutions to offer postgraduate degree, diploma or certificate courses through distance and online mode. The AICTE has allowed top institutions to offer online courses in management and allied areas, computer applications, artificial intelligence and data science in the engineering and technology domain, logistics and travel and tourism.

UGC mentorship guidelines for college, university teachers

Union education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ informed that the University Grants Commission (UGC) decided to develop guidelines for mentorship for and by college and university teachers.

Delhi University ‘shutdown’ over non-payment of salaries

Thousands of Delhi University teachers went on strike from March 11. The call for the university "shutdown" was given by the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) after many employees of the 12 DU colleges funded by the Delhi Government, alleged that they had not received their salaries and other dues for over six months. On March 12, Delhi Government sanctioned Rs 82,79,79,507 under salary head and Rs 9,50,90,500 under other heads.

JEE Main 2021: Result, toppers for paper 1

Six candidates scored perfect 100 in the first session of the JEE Main 2021 conducted in February. The results were announced on March 8. NTA scores were released over six lakh candidates. The same week, JEE Main admit card for March 2021 was released.

Anna University pulled up over 10% EWS reservation

The Anna University was pulled up by the Madras High Court for allegedly providing 10 percent reservation within the 49.5 percent reservation, to candidates belonging to EWS (Economically Weaker Section) in admission to two MTech courses, biotechnology and computational technology. The university had suspended the two courses, following the insistence of the Centre that it should adhere to its 49.5% reservation alone and not the 69 percent quota policy of the Tamil Nadu government.

ICSE, ISC dates changed

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) revised the exam schedule for ICSE (Class 10) and ISC (Class 12).

State board exams

The Election Commission of India permitted the Kerala Government to postpone Class 10 and Class 12 examinations to April 8, in view of the Kerala election scheduled to be held on April 6.

Jammu and Kashmir declared Class 12 results and girls outshone boys by bagging most of the top ranks in the Class 12 board examinations in Kashmir. This year, 80 percent of students passed the exam.

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan approved the proposal to pass students of Classes 1 to 9 without examinations this academic year in the Union Territory.

The Centre said it is planning to bring a new scheme for setting up new Sainik Schools in partnership with NGOs, private schools and state governments.

Delhi budget 2021

Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, during the Delhi Budget 2021, announced that Delhi will be getting its first Sainik School and a Delhi Armed Forces Preparatory Academy which will prepare students for the National Defence Academy and armed forces.

Delhi Government’s expenditure per student annually on education has increased from Rs 50,812 in 2016-17 to Rs 78,082 in 2020-21, according to the Delhi Economic Survey report.

IIM Placements

At the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad placement drive, students received the highest number of job offers in the analytics and IT consulting domain on the last day of the final placement drive. In the postgraduate programme in food and agribusiness management or PGP-FABM, students were hired by 32 recruiters. Earlier, students had received 32 job offers from Boston Consulting Group alone including pre-placement offers closely followed by McKinsey which made 30 job offers.

Despite an economic downturn due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the virtual placement process of the IIM Indore got completed with the highest annual package touching Rs 56.8 lakh.

At IIM Udaipur summer placement drive, 322 eligible students received internship opportunities in various sectors. This year, the highest stipend offered also saw a jump of 20 percent with students receiving Rs 3,00,000 package.

Special stories:

• The Centre sought names of JNVs that can be converted into Sainik Schools and run as public-private partnerships: Centre pushes conversion of JNVs into Sainik Schools, faces criticism

• Students are complaining about the raised hostel fee, the gradual raise which mostly happened during COVID-19, pandemicIIT Delhi: Students complain about hostel fee hike, new charge
• Students of the institute who had taken admission for the July 2020 session are surprised as their classes are yet to begin NIT Jalandhar: 2020 batch in limbo, application reopens for PhD

• According to a survey, 64 percent LGBTQ+ students have been mocked, socially excluded and subjected to bullying in college campuses. 64 percent LGBTQ+ students in Indian colleges face discrimination: Study

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