Kolkata: In a significant revision, the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) Board announced on Thursday that students who have cleared the exam will be eligible for a fresh entry at every counselling round for admission to engineering courses. At each stage, candidates can change their subject and institute preferences. This decision came after the declaration of the joint entrance results.
Out of the 94,901 students who appeared for the entrance test for engineering courses in Bengal, 92,753 qualified. To assist students in making informed choices, the admission trends at every institute will be available on the counselling portal. WBJEEB chairman Goutam Pal stated that the counselling portal would open soon after the board receives the seat matrix from the higher education department. The likely date is either the last week of June or the first week of July.
However, most of the top 10 rank-holders in the West Bengal JEE this year indicated that they aim to study at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or other central institutes, a majority of which are located outside Bengal. When asked about the trend of students moving out of the state for higher studies in recent years, Pal declined to comment. He said, “We conduct the entrance test. We cannot answer these other things.”
An expert pointed out that none among the top five rank-holders were from the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. Only two students among the top 10 had completed their plus-II at Higher Secondary (HS) schools, both in West Midnapore.
The WBJEE top position was secured by Shaswat Banerjee, who completed his plus-II in Kota at Nalanda Academy Senior Secondary School in Rajasthan. Souriddha Mandal from Vivekananda Mission School ranked second, Umang Bhoot from PURV International School in Durgapur ranked third, Rahul Konar from DPS Newtown School ranked fourth, and Sarban Bhattacharya from Garden High School, IISER Kolkata Campus in Nadia, secured the fifth position. These five schools are affiliated with either the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). The two state board students among the top 10 are Arha Bhattachary from Chandrakona Jirat High School in West Midnapore and Manish Senapati from Midnapore Collegiate School, also from the same district.
A JEE Board official explained that the counselling rules were revised to offer students an advantage. “We have seen students making mistakes while filling in their choices. From this time, they will not have to necessarily stick to their original choice and can change it at each of the three rounds of counselling. Also, if a candidate misses the initial registration window, he or she can enter in the second or third round. Earlier, a candidate who missed the first window of registration could get a fresh entry only in the mop-up round,” the official said.
Students will have unlimited options to list preferences across multiple colleges. They can check the portal for last year’s trends before locking their choices for a round. “The candidates can gauge whether they have a realistic chance at a particular college or they should try elsewhere,” he added.
Pal said that among the total qualified candidates, 19,088 were from other states this year. Last year, 1.1 lakh appeared for the test, among whom 23,850 were from outside the state.
(With inputs from Sagnik Bhaduri, Anusha Kumar and Aradhya Mohan)
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