No Class 10 marks to show, TN JEE aspirants in soup

CHENNAI: Thousands of JEE aspirants from Tamil Nadu, whose results were declared all pass in Class 10 during the lockdown are now in a precarious situation as they do not have SSLC marks, which is mandatory to apply for the exam.

Every year about 40,000 engineering aspirants from TN appear for JEE.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that registration for JEE exam started on December 15 and the last date is January 12.

“After registering personal details, candidates’ educational details is mandatory,” he said, adding, “As applicants of the 2020-2021 batch of Class 10, who were declared all pass do not have the marks, they could not proceed further in the application form.”

Stating that several students and JEE coaching centers have complained, he said the government has contacted the NTA to remove the provision from the form. “This is likely to be solved in a few days,” he said.

School Education Commissioner K Nanthakumar said as the government has approached NTA, the problem will be sorted out soon. Sources from IIT-Madras, seeking anonymity, said that the institution is also likely to approach the NTA.

KR Nandhakumar, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Private Nursery, Primary, Matriculation, Higher Secondary, and CBSE Schools Association, said that the government should have allocated the Class 10 marks based on Class 9 performance. “We had urged the government to do it back then but it wasn’t done and now students are suffering.”