JEE-Main: Class 11 science students can be scribes for aspirants with disabilities
Only a class 11 student from the science stream, with mathematics as one of the subjects, will be allowed as a writer/scribe for students with various forms of disabilities appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination-Main (JEE-Main).
The changes have been introduced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently and will be applicable for the exam which will be held in April 2018.
Until now, scribes could only be students appearing for their class 10 exams the same year. According to the corrigendum released by CBSE on www.jeemain.nic.in three days ago, the amendment has been made under para 2.5 (Provisions for Persons with Disabilities), page 10 of the information bulletin of JEE (Main) 2018.
“The services of a scribe are available to candidates who are visually impaired, dyslexic, have disability in upper limbs or have lost fingers/hands, thereby preventing them from bubbling the optical response sheet (ORS). These scribes will be students of Class 11 from the science stream with mathematics as one of their subjects,” said the statement.
According to provisions for PwDs (Persons with Disabilities), as mentioned by the information bulletin for JEE (Main) exam, only those visually impaired candidates with more than 40% disability will be allowed a scribe. Any student with 40% or more disability will also be allowed one hour extra time, irrespective of whether the candidate is availing a scribe’s help or not.
CBSE has further made it clear that those candidates, who wish to bring their own scribe will have to inform the centre superintendent at least two days before the examination. If appointed by the centre superintendent, a candidate will also be allowed to meet the scribe one day before the exam to verify the suitability of the scribe.
This year, the Joint Admission Board (JAB) announced that 4,000 more students will be allowed to appear for the JEE-Advanced exam in May, which means that the top 2.4 lakh candidates clearing JEE (Main) will be eligible to appear for JEE-Advanced exam. This change was introduced keeping in mind the increasing intake capacity of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).