'No plans to change JEE Advanced 2020 syllabus': IIT Delhi clarifies queries on entrance exam

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, on Sunday clarified that there are no current plans to change the syllabus of the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) - Advanced 2020 and that the matter is not even planned for discussion in the next Joint Admission Board (JAB) meeting.

The institution also clarified that as of now, the JEE (Advanced) 2020 exams are scheduled to be held on September 27.

"In reference to a news report published in the media that JEE (Advanced) 2020 could see some changes in the examination pattern, IIT Delhi, the organising institute, would like to clarify that there are no plans to change the syllabus of the entrance examination," tweeted IIT Delhi from its official Twitter handle, adding, "There is also no plan to discuss this matter in the next JAB meeting. As of now, JEE (Advanced) 2020 is scheduled to be held on September 27, 2020."

There is also no plan to discuss this matter in the next JAB meeting.

As of now, JEE (Advanced) 2020 is scheduled to be held on September 27, 2020.

— IIT Delhi (@iitdelhi) July 19, 2020

The clarification comes in the wake of a few media reports that suggested that there might be some changes in the examination pattern of the JEE (Advanced) exams this year, in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak.

These reports had stated that the matter will be taken up for discussion at the IITs in the next JAB meeting, scheduled to be held later this week.

The JEE Advanced Exam, in which the students who have ranked in the top 2,50,000 in the JEE Mains exams are eligible to appear, is held for admission to one of the 23 IITs and other premium state-sponsored engineering colleges in the country. Every year, one of the IITs is in charge of conducting the Advanced exams, and this year, the responsibility lies with IIT Delhi.

It is in this light that the institution has now refuted the media reports which suggested that syllabus change may be likely and stated that nothing of the sort has been planned yet.

In the last JAB meeting, however, the IITs decided to relax the admission criterion this year in view of the partial cancellation of the Class 12 examinations by various boards. The board has done away with the 75 percentile requirement for the Class 12 board exams that were earlier needed to appear in JEE Advanced.

"Due to the partial cancellation of class XII exams by several Boards, Joint Admission Board (JAB) has decided to relax the eligibility criterion for JEE (Advanced), 2020, qualified candidates, this time. Qualified candidates who have passed class XII examinations will now be eligible for admissions irrespective of marks obtained," Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ''Nishank'' had said in a series of tweets.

Earlier, the requirement for admission to IITs was to secure either a minimum score of 75% marks in class 12 board exams or rank among the top 20 percentile in the JEE Advanced entrance exams.