A new Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) pattern is introduced by the Ministry of Human Resources Development on the 28 May 2012 to be implemented from 2013. HRD Minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal announced that there will be a single two-tier common engineering entrance examination – JEE-Main and JEE-Advanced for all the centrally-funded engineering institutions viz. IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology). For the first time Class XII Board results will also be taken into consideration for admissions. This decision was taken at a joint meeting between the IIT Council, NIT Council and IIIT Council. The 15 IITs will shortlist the candidates giving equal weightage, 50% each, to Class XII Board and the JEE-Main results. It will be further used to filter approximately 50,000 students, who will be further eligible for the JEE-Advanced. The final merit list for admission to the IITs will be prepared based on performance in the JEE-Advanced exam. For all other Centrally Funded Institutions, admissions would be based on a combined score which gives a weightage of 40% to Class XII Board results, and 30% each for the JEE-Main and JEE-Advanced. The academic control of the examination such as paper setting, evaluation and preparation of the merit list, etc. would remain with the IIT system while the administrative and logistic support to conduct the examination will be with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). JEE-Main tests shall be multiple choice objective type paper whereas the nature and modalities of the JEE-Advanced shall be determined by the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of IITs. Expressing his views on the new entrance examination pattern, Mr. JC Chaudhry, Managing Director, Aakash Institute / Aakash IIT-JEE says "The single engineering entrance examination will definitely do a lot good to the students as they will not have to prepare separately for various engineering entrance examinations organized across the country. This initiative would also motivate every student to take school attendance, our secondary school system and the school examinations seriously, where otherwise the students prefer taking up coaching for the entrance exams preparation, in lieu of attending school." This pattern, however also has a flip side, elaborating on it, Mr. Chaudhry mentions, "There will be confusion and an added pressure on the students, whether to focus on school or entrance examinations. Furthermore, the parents will also have to bear financial burden for undertaking coaching for school and entrance exams separately." There are various reactions coming from the country on the one nation, one test formula. The proposed reform to bring focus back to the schooling system by giving weightage to performance in Class XII Board examinations normalised on percentile basis would also be a serious challenge, as there is a huge gap between schools of the CBSE, ICSE and State Boards. The formula to be adopted for percentile calculation has to be worked upon, as various Boards have different yardsticks. The process of establishing co-ordination between CBSE and JAB-IITs for implementation of the core curriculum in Science and Math across the CBSE, ICSE and State Boards shall be put in place immediately. Also those students who have appeared in the Class XII Board examinations in 2012 and wish to improve upon their performance can reappear for the Board examinations in 2013. CBSE and State Boards would make appropriate arrangements to facilitate this through a special dispensation.