New Guidelines for JEE and NEET Coaching: What Students Need to Know

A central government committee has proposed major changes to how students prepare for JEE Main and NEET UG exams. The recommendations aim to reduce the burden on students and make coaching centres less necessary.

The committee, led by Vineet Joshi (Secretary of Higher Education Department), was formed on 17th June 2025. Its job was to examine gaps in school education, the effectiveness of competitive entrance exams, the rise of dummy schools, and the growing influence of coaching institutes.

The Main Problem

Right now, there is a big gap between what students learn in schools and what appears in competitive exams. School syllabi follow one approach while JEE and NEET follow another. This mismatch forces students to join coaching centres, often at a young age.

The committee found that regular schools lack the ecosystem that coaching institutes provide. Things like regular tests, performance analysis, and targeted study materials are missing from most schools. Many school teachers are not trained to prepare students beyond board exams.

What the Committee Suggests

The panel has put forward several practical solutions to fix these issues.

Limit Coaching Hours

Daily coaching classes should be capped at 2-3 hours maximum. This will help reduce the academic burden on students and give them time for other activities.

Align School Syllabus with Competitive Exams

The Class 11 and 12 curriculum should match the JEE and NEET syllabus. A nodal agency should coordinate between NCERT, NTA, CBSE and other boards to ensure this alignment happens.

Give More Weight to Board Marks

College admissions should give more importance to Class 12 board exam results. This will make school education more relevant and reduce the sole dependence on entrance test scores.

Multiple Exam Attempts

Students should get chances to appear for entrance exams more than once a year. This will reduce the pressure of a single exam deciding their future.

Start Early Career Counselling

Career guidance should begin from Class 8 itself. NCERT and CBSE should develop a comprehensive career counselling programme. A national aptitude and career guidance portal should be created to provide continuous, personalised advice.

Regulate Coaching Institutes

Coaching centres must disclose their teaching methods, faculty qualifications, actual success rates, and advertising practices. This transparency will help students and parents make informed decisions.

Strengthening School Education

The committee emphasised that coaching culture exists because schools have certain gaps. The real solution lies in making school education stronger.

Schools should introduce problem-solving and mentoring classes. Teachers need better training to prepare students for competitive exams. The 'Professor of Practice' model could bring academic and industry experts as visiting faculty.

The assessment pattern needs an overhaul too. A hybrid model mixing MCQs with descriptive questions can discourage rote learning. Schools should redesign curricula to include higher-level thinking, problem-solving skills, and time-bound assessments.

Considering Class 11 Entrance Tests

One interesting proposal is to explore conducting competitive exams at the Class 11 level itself. Sub-committees will compare syllabi across different boards and recommend if this is feasible.

The transition from Class 10 to Class 11 currently creates significant stress for students. Starting competitive preparation earlier might help students adjust better.

The Dummy School Problem

Dummy schools have become popular because students need to focus entirely on coaching. These schools give admission but don't expect regular attendance. They exist only to fulfil the formal requirement of being enrolled in a school.

This trend sidelines traditional schooling. If the committee's recommendations are implemented, dummy schools might become unnecessary. Students could get quality competitive exam preparation within their regular schools.

Impact on Students and Parents

These changes, if implemented, will significantly alter how lakhs of students prepare for medical and engineering entrance tests.

Parents spend enormous amounts on coaching fees. Many families relocate to coaching hubs like Kota. The financial and emotional strain is considerable. Making schools capable of providing entrance exam preparation could ease these pressures.

Students often attend school from morning to afternoon, then coaching classes till late evening. This leaves little time for sleep, hobbies, or social interaction. Capping coaching hours addresses this concern about student wellbeing.

Technical Analysis and Validation

The committee has asked NTA to provide detailed data from the past three years. This includes candidate-level question-wise answers, shift-wise question papers, and final answer keys.

A psychometric expert will analyse the difficulty level of questions in JEE Main, NEET, CUET and JEE Advanced. This assessment will check if the exams can reliably differentiate between candidates.

The Department of School Education and Literacy, along with CBSE, might conduct surveys to assess student participation in coaching classes. This data will help understand the actual extent of coaching dependence.

What Happens Next

The committee held meetings on 26th August and 15th November last year at Shastri Bhavan in New Delhi. Members repeatedly stressed that strengthening the school system is the only real solution.

These are recommendations at this stage. The Education Ministry will need to review them and decide on implementation. Some changes, like syllabus alignment, will take time to execute. Others, like coaching hour caps, could be introduced faster through regulations.

The proposals represent a significant shift in thinking about competitive exam preparation. Instead of treating coaching as inevitable, the focus moves to making regular schooling sufficient. Whether this vision becomes reality depends on how seriously the recommendations are taken and how effectively they are implemented.