Bhubaneswar: A day after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) came out with a notification for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2018, the Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) on Friday urged the Odisha government to not participate in it till the proposed ‘One Country One Examination’ concept is implemented.
OPECA members on Friday sought the intervention of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and requested the government to conduct Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) keeping in view the large scale seat vacancies in private colleges in the State.
OPECA claimed that vacancies in B-Tech courses have assumed alarming proportions in the last eight years in Odisha.
Vacancies shot up to 75 percent from 50 percent of the total intake after Odisha joined JEE (Main) four years back, cited OPECA in a letter to the State government.
Also Read: B-Tech seat vacancies: OPECA bats for OJEE instead of JEE (Main)
The private colleges’ association claimed that several pioneering States in technical education including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are holding their own entrance examinations.
At present out of the 29 States and 7 Union Territories, only six States including Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh are admitting students in colleges through JEE (Main).
As JEE (Main) is based on the CBSE pattern, students pursuing their higher education under the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) pattern are facing problems to qualify, OPECA members maintained.
“We have urged Odisha government to reconsider its decision of participating in JEE Main, 2018 and conduct OJEE till Central government implements the ‘One Country One Examination’ concept,” said OPECA Secretary, Binod Dash.