File picture of students entering a JEE centre

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 20: The state government today decided to stick to the JEE (Mains) examination to select students for engineering colleges in the state.

“The state government has decided that it will continue with the JEE (Mains) for engineering admission,” said technical education secretary C.S. Kumar.

The JEE (Mains) is an all-India test, while the Odisha JEE is a state-level entrance examination.

Students aspiring to study MBA, MCA, pharmacy, homeopathy and ayurveda, however, will have to take Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE). Engineering diploma students seeking admission to B.Tech courses will also have to take the OJEE.

However, since the OJEE was not held last year, the colleges lost half of its usual intake from outside the state. Therefore, private engineering colleges were trying to persuade the government to revert to the OJEE mode of admission. Out of 45,000 seats, nearly 27,000 seats could not be filled up during the last academic session. The policy planning board of the technical education department had also sent its recommendations to the state government in this regard.

“The chief minister has been misguided the people. The Orissa Professional Educational Institution Act, 2007, prescribes admissions to technical streams, including first-year BTech, through two tests — JEE conducted by the policy planning body and the AIEEE, known as JEE (Mains),” said Binod Dash, secretary of the Odisha Private Engineering Colleges’ Association. He said the association would move court.

In another development, the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) has decided to introduce e-evaluation of answer sheets.

The semester papers of all engineering colleges under the varsity will be evaluated online from the next academic session.

The BPUT governing body has also decided to form a committee of subject-wise senior teachers. The panel will prepare lecture notes on various subjects and upload it on the BPUT website. BPUT registrar Mihir Nayak said the varsity was criticised for its slow evaluation process that led to delay in publication of results.

“The delay happened because we were required to do everything manually — from evaluation of answerscripts to publication of results. However, this online route is sure to solve the problem to a great extent. It will save time and ensure error free evaluation.”

Sandeep Mishra, a mechanical engineering student, said: “Digitalisation should have been introduced much earlier.”