The Union ministry of HRD has announced plans to bring in a common national engineering entrance exam for students who will be admitted to the 10+2 courses in the academic year 2012-13. “The HRD ministry is making all efforts to conduct a national common entrance test for engineering admissions from 2014.

We are negotiating with all the state governments for that purpose,” said Ms Daggupati Purandeshwari, minister of state, UMHRD. She also said a national common syllabus at 10+2 level is being worked on. “Some states have already agreed to this and we are confident of bringing a consensus on the issue among all the states.” Explaining the reason forthe decision, she said, “The idea is to provide a levelplaying field for all students irrespective of the boards they opt for at state and national level.” There are also plans to give weightage for 10+2 marks in the engineering entrance exam. The common syllabus will ensure that there will not be any disparity when giving weightage for 10+2 marks across the country.” She said there was initial resistance to Neet from several states, including AP.

“The point was to inform students about any changes two years in advance when they take admissions in 10+2 courses. The MCI has announced that Neet will be applicable to fresh batch of students who take admission in the coming academic year 2012-13. All the states agreed to this,” she added.