The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have shot down the government’s proposal to permit the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct JEE (Advanced). The NTA, approved by the union cabinet on November 10, is envisioned as the largest exam-conducting body in the country. In a meeting of IIT directors on December 15 in Chennai, the institutes decided against the NTA’s involvement in JEE (Advanced), which is the gateway to securing a seat in the 23 premier engineering schools.
“Handing over the entrance test makes little sense as it would not lessen the burden of the IITs. The agency would have had to keep coming back to our faculty to set the question papers,” said the director of one of the seven older IITs, who did not wish to be identified.