Highlights
- MHRD to give preference to state languages in JEE Main.
- The preference will be given to those regional languages which have most applications in the past five years.
- Marathi and Telugu will be the first to be added.
MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) announced that JEE Main will now be conducted in multiple regional languages. Languages with most applications will be given the first preference. Though, there could be some technical limitations while conducting JEE Main exam in regional languages, says MHRD secretary R. Subrahmanyam.
The secretary stated, “Since JEE Main is held in a computer-based mode, there are some limitations which need to be addressed, first. We are committed to conducting JEE Main in multiple languages and the process will take time.” On the matter, the MHRD office informed that the NTA (National Testing Agency) has to develop software in regional languages to avoid errors.
Most JEE Main aspirants are from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Hence, Marathi and Telugu will be the two languages to be added first.
In April 2019, more than 1 lac applications were received from Maharashtra and more than 1.5 lac applications were received from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined.
Furthermore, Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister of West Bengal) has raised concern over the inclusion of the Bengali language in the JEE Main Exam. However, there were less than 20000 applications received from West Bengal last year.
Moreover, centers of Gujarat, Dadara & Nagra Haveli, Daman & Diu will get Hindi, English and Gujarati languages as options. The decision of including the Gujarati language was taken after the state requested for it, says NTA. No other state has approached NTA for the inclusion of their language yet.
Back in 2014, CBSE used to conduct JEE Main in Urdu, Marathi, and Gujarati, but Urdu and Marathi were dropped in 2016.
