Free Coaching for JEE, NEET and UGC-NET To Become Available Soon

The National Testing Agency’s centres will start providing free coaching from May 2019. (Photo: The Quint)

Students will soon be able to access higher education coaching services free of cost, with the National Testing Agency (NTA), which is a self-sustained testing organisation, planning to convert its test centres into teaching centres from next year, reported India.com.

The NTA is a specialist testing organisation that conducts entrance examinations for admission or fellowship in higher educational institutions. While these centres will become functional from 8 September, they will only begin teaching from May 2019, an official of the Ministry of Human Resource Development told India.com.

“The plan is to take these centres beyond just practice tests and turn them into teaching centres. They will not charge any fees and so will be especially helpful for talented students from sections where aspirations are high but private coaching is impossible due to financial constraints”, he further told India.com.

This move will also benefit students from rural and semi-urban areas.

How Will it Work?

First, NTA will allow all aspirants to sit for a mock test for the JEE-MAIN scheduled to be held in January 2019. Once these results are out, all the aspirants can sit down and analyse their results with NTA mentors. Once the centres begin teaching, teachers will help students with their problems, reported India.com.

However, aspirants will be required to register for slots at the centres through either the NTA’s mobile app or NTA’s official website, since only registered candidates can sit for the tests. Once registered, they can appear for mock tests for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-UG (NEET-UG) and the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET).

This mobile application and the website will be launched on 1 September. The online registration for the two examinations will also begin on the same day and will continue till 30 September.

The NTA will also be launching an app which will allow the candidate to locate the test centre closest to them, according to India.com.

While this move may be a welcome one for most, it may hamper the functioning of those coaching institutes which charge high fees for their services.

(With inputs from India.com.)