HRD Ministry announces relaxation in admission criteria to NITs

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on Thursday announced that JEE (Main)-qualified candidates would only need to obtain a passing certificate in class XII examination, irrespective of the marks obtained, to be eligible to be considered for admission to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) this year.

“Due to the prevailing circumstances, the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) has decided to relax the eligibility criterion for admissions to the National Institutes of Technology and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs),” said Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Minister of Human Resource Development.

For admissions in NITs and other CFTIs, apart from qualifying Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, the eligibility usually is to secure a minimum of 75 per cent marks in XII board exams or rank among the top 20 percentile in the institutes’ qualifying examinations, he added.

Meanwhile, last week, the HRD ministry had also relaxed the eligibility criteria for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this year by not considering Class XII board performance.

Due to the partial cancellation of class XII exams by several education boards, the Joint Admission Board (JAB) had decided to relax the eligibility criterion for JEE (Advanced) 2020 qualified candidates this time.

Qualified candidates who have passed class XII examinations will now be eligible for admissions irrespective of marks obtained in the board exams.