NTA to hold NEET, JEE from Dec 2018

The National Testing Agency (NTA) — Centre's one-point agency for conducting all entrance examinations — will conduct first tests from December 2018, for the academic year 2019. The task of setting up the agency has been assigned to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur which has already begun work on hiring subject experts.

To begin with, they will conduct NEET and JEE next year, the entrance exams that were so far conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). After the formation of NTA , JEE will be conducted twice a year.

The Union Cabinet recently gave its nod to setting up of the agency which was announced in this year's budget by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

"IIT Kanpur has already been assigned the task of setting up the agency and they have started with forming a team of subject experts in various fields and technical experts to design the question papers. The agency will be able to conduct first examination in December next year," said a senior official.

According to sources in the ministry, the agency will have people from the private sector as well including experts in particular subjects and IT experts to make sure that the tests are conducted online, in a hassle-free manner.

Subject experts will create a question bank that will be used for the exam. "Creating a question bank, ideating and managing the online system are the key points that we are will be done by NTA," the official added.