Odisha JEE exam 2020: Govt yet to take decision on schedule

BHUBANESWAR: The state government is yet to take any decision regarding examination schedule of Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) this year. Candidates are in a state of confusion about the entrance examinations.
Normally OJEE is conducted after the completion of JEE (Main) test. Though the JEE Main has been held across the country between September 1 and September 6, the skill development and technical education department has not taken any call regarding the examination date.
"We cannot speak anything right now before the state government takes final decision regarding the OJEE. We have not taken any decision on this so far," said Sanjay Kumar Singh, secretary of skill development and technical education department.
OJEE chairman SK Chand also clarified that they had not taken any decision to hold the examination between September 9 and September 15. "It was a rumor. We will announce the schedule after the state government takes final decision regarding the examination," he added.
On August 13, authorities of the OJEE had decided to open three online examination centres outside Odisha for aspirants of other states. These centres were Ranchi in Jharkhand, Patna in Bihar and Kolkata in West Bengal. No OJEE centres were opened outside the state since 2014.
Keeping the Covid-19 situation in mind, the OJEE has increased examination centres inside the state too. It has added six more online test centres. These were Balangir, Paralakhemundi (Gajapati), Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh and Phulbani (Kandhamal). With this, total examination centres touched 21 in Odisha.
Generally, students travel to big cities for appearing the OJEE examinations. But this year the OJEE authorities have decided to open examination centres at some more places to reduce the load on big centres and cut the travel time of the candidates.
OJEE is being conducted every year for the purpose of holding common entrance examinations for admission to the undergraduate/postgraduate level professional courses including BTech, MTech, MBA, MCA, MPharm and BPharm in the state.
Government will hold computer based test (CBT) for all courses from this year. Last year, the OJEE had conducted CBT for all postgraduate (PG) courses only. This year it will add both PG and undergraduate (UG) courses for CBT.
Keeping the situation in mind, the government has also decided not to hold second OJEE test this year. But it will hold a Special OJEE for entry into BTech courses. The aspirants who failed to appear the JEE (Main) can sit for the examination.