The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has shot down the IITs' proposal to set up a Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) centre in Singapore. After setting up the first overseas JEE centre in Dubai last year, the IITs' Joint Admission Board (JAB) had planned to start the second one in Singapore this year. But the ministry is learnt to have rejected the proposal at the IIT Council meeting held in Delhi earlier this week. 'The present government feels that there is no scope or place for IITs to conduct exams in other nations or set up centres there. They feel that there would be very few candidates who would be applying or appearing for exams from a foreign centre and it would turn out to be an expensive proposition overall. So the plan has been dropped,'[ confirmed an IIT Council member.
Last year, Prof S Sankararaman, Chairman of JEE 2008, IIT Madras, visited Singapore to examine the possibility of setting up a JEE 2009 centre there. In his report, he said that three schools – Global Indian International School, Delhi Public School and Raffles Junior College – had expressed interest in hosting the exam.Sankararaman had further said that while there may be just 50-60 candidates at first, the figure would increase and it was 'worth trying this experiment in Singapore.' The proposal was then sent to the HRD ministry.
