HYDERABAD:The IIT joint admission board (JAB) has decided to waive the joint entrance exam (JEE) application fee for girls from next year, while increasing the application fee for boys from `1,000 to `1,800. Parents and academics have welcomed the waiver for girls but are critical of the increase in the fee for boys.

If the IIT thinks that `500 is a burden for parents of girls, the same is with the parents of boys. It is difficult to pay `1,800 for a form ­­ B. Pradeep a parent.The IIT joint admission board has decided to waive the JEE application fee for girls from next year, while increasing the fee for boys from `1,000 to `1,800.

Parents and academics have welcomed the waiver for girls in the hope that it will improve the gender ratio in IITs, which is one girl to every 10 boys, at present. The application fee was same for both boys and girls till 2006. It was reduced by half for girls in 2006.

As a result, the number of girls opting for the JEE crossed one lakh for the first time in 2010, from 40,000 in 2006.

Girls currently pay `500 for the JEE application form and boys, `1,000. As parents rightly point out, the IITs should themselves bear the cost of the girls’ application forms instead of passing it on to the boys.

“The IITs are already collecting double the fee from boys and it should think about parents hailing from economically weaker sections,” said Mr B. Pradeep, a parent.

The IITs have also decided that from next year, students will have to darken the circles using a pen instead of a pencil as there were complaints that examiners are erasing the circles darkened with pencils to ensure that students of their choice figure in the final selection list.