BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government on Wednesday confirmed official participation in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main for admission into engineering programmes and asked students to gear up for the new process of application which necessitates Aadhaar numbers.
Skill Development and Technical Education Minister Sanjay Dasburma, who announced the State’s participation in the national entrance - which is an annual feature, said the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made Aadhaar mandatory for application while simplifying the whole process.
CBSE, which conducts the JEE Main test, has brought in the new feature to eliminate confusion arising out of discrepancies in name and date of birth which different documents maintain. Students are seen to be using matriculation certificates as well as Green Cards where the names and date of birth differs. This often leads to inconvenience for the admission authorities.
When the software is given access to the admission process, the registration number and date of birth are fed. In cases where these facts are different, students face problems. The use of Aadhaar number will ease the whole process. The name and date of birth mentioned in the document would only be accepted over the rest.
Chairman of Odisha JEE Tushar Kant Nath said students should not worry about use of Aadhaar card because at least 75 per cent of them are in possession of the document. For those who do not, there are several centres operating to get themselves registered, he said.
The Government of India has 240 centres for Aadhaar enrolment while the State has embarked on a special drive for the same at block, NAC and municipality offices. This apart, city examination offices of CBSE also provide the facility as a special measure. All these information are also available on the JEE Main site, Nath said.
For those who have enrolled but have not received their 12-digit e-Aadhaar number, the 28-digit identification number during enrolment will also be valid during application.
Registration for JEE Main started on December 1 and would continue till January 1. So far, 1,750 students from the State have registered themselves for the entrance.