BHUBANESWAR: In a significant decision, the Policy Planning Board (PPB) on Friday recommended that the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) be conducted along with JEE Main for admission in the engineering colleges in 2015. This would mean going back to the pre-2014 system of admission.
Chairman of the apex body Justice A K Parichha said the PPB has decided to leave the final decision to the State Government.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts JEE Main for nine States and Odisha participated in it for the first time this year. “Since JEE Main and the Special OJEE 2014 did not produce satisfactory results, the State Government may consider conducting OJEE as it was held earlier,” Justice Parichha said.
A suggestion to form committees and sub-committees for conducting OJEE was also placed before the State Government. However, no recommendation will be made for reversing the decision on JEE Main, he clarified.
Before Odisha gave its consent to join JEE Main, the Government used to conduct OJEE, in which 10 per cent of the seat pool was reserved for students coming through the AIEEE route.
The Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) had earlier requested the PPB to conduct OJEE for admission in first-year BTech courses since more than 63,000 candidates had applied for OJEE in 2013, whereas just about 48,000 students applied for JEE Main in 2014, leaving huge vacancies in technical colleges.
The Association had also pointed out that since JEE Main is based on CBSE-pattern syllabus, a majority of CHSE pass-outs had found the entrance difficult.
This year, a Special OJEE was conducted as more than 35,000 seats of total 48,000 remained vacant after JEE Main. Just about 6,667 candidates registered for Special OJEE out of which only 1,377 were allotted seats.