News & Updates

The Gujarat government on Monday made Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), the national-level common entrance test for admission in engineering and pharmacy colleges, optional from academic year 2017-18.

The state reintroduced the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GujCET), which will be mandatory for students aiming for admission in Gujarat engineering and pharmacy colleges.

State education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, "JEE will be optional while state will reintroduce GujCET from 2017-18. This decision is prompted by repeated representations that state students, especially those who wished to take admission in Gujarat colleges, were at a disadvantage at taking JEE, a national competitive exam," said Chudasama.

"We have made JEE optional and reintroduced GujCET so no section of students, whether urban or rural, is at a disadvantage," he said. The move will impact nearly 70,000 state and central board students pursuing A group or physics, chemistry and math in the state.

Gujarat was one of the first states to accept JEE mains as mandatory over GujCET for technical admissions in 2013 citing it a move which will push local students to prepare and compete at national level. The move is being viewed as regressive when the SC is insisting on a national common entrance test, NEET, for medical admissions.

(ToI)