No of JEEMain examination centres to go up from 113 to 258

MUMBAI : The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has doubled the number of cities for Joint Entrance ExaminationMain (JEE-Main) 2018 so that candidates from smaller towns and villages can find centres closer to their homes. The number cities where the exam will be held this year has been increased to 258 from 113 in 2017.

The number was increased despite a considerable dip in registrations over the past four years. This year, 11.64 lakh students registered for the exam which is 51,000 less in comparison to 2017.

“There have been numerous instances where year after year students have travelled length and breadth of the country to appear for the test. Increasing the number of exam cities will benefit them,” said a senior CBSE official.

He added that apart from increasing the number of cities in India, another city was added in Qatar, taking the total count of exam cities outside India to 10. The international cities that have JEE-Main exam centres are Colombo, Kathmandu, Singapore, Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat, Riyadh, Sharjah, Qatar and Dhaka.

In India, maximum number of exam cities are in Maharashta (31) followed by Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh —18 each — and Tamil Nadu (17).

“While 9,24,000 students will appear for pen-paper format on April 8, the remaining 2,40,000 have opted for online test to be held on April 15 and 16. Exam cities in both categories have been increased,” the official added.

A CBSE OFFICAL SAID ANOTHER CITY WAS ADDED IN QATAR, TAKING THE TOTAL COUNT OF EXAM CITIES OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY TO 10