The state joint entrance examination (JEE) board is likely to conduct the exam for admission to the BTech programmes in engineering colleges after the Assembly elections are over, said a senior official of the board.
The new JEE board chairman, Gautam Paul, said that they would meet next week to discuss preparations for this year’s examinations.
The board, which usually publishes advertisements for the examination in December, has yet to come up with any this time.
The new board chairman, who was appointed on Monday, said he would speak to the state administration about holding the examinations through which students are screened for 34,000 engineering seats. “The examinations are likely to be held after the Assembly elections,” said a senior board official.
The JEE is usually held in April.
The Election Commission has yet to announce the dates of the Assembly elections. The polls are likely to be held in April and May.
The forum of the private engineering colleges said the board must announce the examination dates at the earliest.
“Usually by this time, the process of filling out forms is completed. But the board is yet to publish the advertisement this year. The delay could be because the board did not have any chairperson over the past one-and-a-half months,” said Taranjit Singh, the president of the Association of Professional Academic Institutions.
“Now that the new chairperson has been appointed, we hope that the dates will be announced soon,” he said.
The tenure of the previous chairperson ended in late
December. The board in between was being run by the registrar.
The state higher secondary council brought forward the higher secondary examinations by a month this year in view of the elections.
“But the JEE board did not think of taking any such proactive steps...,” said a Jadavpur University teacher.
“When the board cannot function without a chairperson, why was the position left vacant?” the teacher asked.
In 2021, when the last Assembly elections were held, the Bengal JEE were held in July.
An education department official said they are awaiting the declaration of the poll schedules by the EC following the publication of the final electoral rolls. “The examinations are unlikely to be held before the polls because students have to be given a month-long window to submit the applications online. This year, the board has not yet issued the advertisement. So the tests can be held only after the elections,” the official said.
Once the polling schedule is announced, the central armed police force will be deployed, who occupy the academic institutions — the JEE centres — during their period of stay. This process starts in the run-up to the polls, the official said. “This also negates the possibility of holding the tests before elections.”
Last year, BTech classes in Bengal started in October, two months after the usual schedule as court cases over OBC reservations delayed the publication of results.