– Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board will not conduct the undergraduate and postgraduate entrance tests and counseling for Presidency University, Jadavpur University or any other state-aided institute from this year until further orders of the state government, the board said on Friday.

The board will restrict its activity to conducting the common entrance examination for admission of students to the engineering and technology institutes of West Bengal and some other courses like nursing, paramedical and allied sciences.

The announcement comes a day after it was decided by the government that there would be no entrance tests for admission of students to undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered in state-aided institutes this year in view of the pandemic. The government’s decision to admit students only on the basis of class XII board marks was conveyed to the vice-chancellors of all universities at a virtual meeting on Wednesday which was presided by state education minister Brtaya Basu.

“The board is empowered to conduct joint entrance exams for admission of students to various institutions in West Bengal imparting education in medical, engineering and technological courses as well as some other courses like the undergraduate programmes in nursing, paramedical and allied sciences. The board will not conduct entrance tests for admission to a single institute from this year until further order,” the board chairman told EducationWorld today.      

The undergraduate and postgraduate admission tests for Presidency University were slated in August. The two tests have been cancelled.

The state joint entrance board had announced the dates of entrance exams for  Presidency University on June 22.

An official of the state higher education department had reportedly wanted to know from the state joint entrance board during the meeting with vice-chancellors how it could take the decision on conducting the entrance tests for Presidency University before the state government clarified its stand on the issue.

The board had already started the process of conducting the entrance exam for Presidency University and several candidates had paid the application fees. The fees collected from such candidates will be refunded, an official of the board said.      

The state joint entrance examination board had been conducting the entrance exam for the general degree courses of Presidency University and also for the evening five-year engineering courses at Jadavpur University over the past few years.

“This is to reaffirm that from the year 2021 and onwards, the board will restrict  its activity to conducting  common entrance exams, competitive ranking, single-window counseling and allotment of seats based on candidates’ choices among various institutions of the state and/or in multiple courses offered by those institutions,” said a circular issued by board chairman Malayendu Saha on Friday.