According to a recent declaration by the education ministry, the Class XII performance criterion has been dropped in admissions to engineering institutes based on JEE (Main) for a second year in a row.

Last year, IITs and NITs had waived the criterion as a one-time exemption because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, given the continuing uncertainty over the schedule of exams for different Boards across the country, this exception has been applied this year as well. IITs have already waived this requirement for admissions through JEE (Advanced).

After revising the IIT JEE eligibility criteria, Education Minister today has waived off the 75% criteria for JEE Main 2021 examination. The JEE Main examination is conducted for admission to NIT, IIITs, SPAs, and CFTIs as well.

Education Minister took his official Twitter account to announce the same. He wrote, “Considering the decision taken for IIT JEE(Advanced) and in line with the decision taken for the last academic year, it has been decided to waive off the 75% marks (in class 12 exam) eligibility criteria under Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for the next academic year 2021-2022.”

The admission to National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur (West Bengal), and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs - excluding IITs) are made on the basis of ranks/merit secured by the candidates in JEE Main examination.

Last week, the Education Minister has announced the IIT JEE dates and also the revised eligibility criteria. Due to the pandemic, the concession in the 75% aggregate requirement of class 12 has been removed this year as well.

JEE Main Examination this year would be conducted four times- February, March, April, and May 2021. Students can choose to appear in either one, two, three, or all four examinations, based on the dates that suit them. The first session examination would be conducted on February 23, 24, 25, and 26, 2021. The first shift exam would be conducted from 9 am to 12 noon and the second shift from 3 pm to 6 pm.

The JEE-Main examination will be held four times this year — February, March, April and May. Students can appear for all four exams, and only their best score will be used to prepare the All-India Rank list. Also, all candidates appearing for JEE-Main next year will have to attempt 75 questions out of 90 – or 25 out of questions 30 in each section of Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.