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Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank announced on Thursday that the Joint Admission Board (JAB) for 23 IITs has decided the computer-based JEE-Main for admission to
engineering colleges across the country will be conducted in more regional languages. The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main, which is also an eligibility test for the JEE-Advanced for
admission to the IITs is currently offered in English, Hindi and Gujarati. The test will be offered in regional languages from next year. "In line with the vision of #NEP2020, the Joint
Admission Board (JAB) of #JEE (Main) has decided to conduct the JEE (Main) examination in more regional languages of India," Nishank tweeted. "The examination will also be
conducted in regional languages where entry to State Engineering Colleges is decided based on an examination (conducted in regional language). State language of states who admit students
based on the #JEE(Main) will also be included under this. "This decision has far-reaching implications as Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has pointed out that top-scoring countries in
PISA examination use mother tongue as a medium of instruction. The decision of JAB will help students comprehend questions better and score higher," he said in a series of tweets. Last
year, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while questioning the inclusion of Gujarati as a medium of writing the exam, demanded inclusion of other regional languages. The Ministry of
Education had then clarified it has been offering the test in Gujarati following a request from the state and said that the test will be offered in all the 11 languages from 2021. The
ministry also asked NTA to explore the possibility of offering the competitive exams in as many languages as possible.