According to data shared by the Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', out of the 8.58 lakh registered candidates for JEE Main 2020 in September, 6.35 lakh finally appeared for the exam. This implies that over 2.2 lakh students, or over 25%, did not write the JEE Main exams. JEE Main 2020 began on September 1 and ended on September 6. There had been many protests and even Supreme Court petitions challenging the decision to hold the public exams (JEE Main and NEET 2020) in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal took to Twitter and said: "Out of 8.58 lakh #JEEMains applicants, 6.35 lakhs appeared for the exam."
The Education Minister further added: "Central and respective State Governments assured all possible assistance to the students, for which I compliment all State Governments as well. This entire effort displayed the spirit of cooperative federalism."
Out of 8.58 lakh #JEEMains applicants, 6.35 lakhs appeared for the exam. Central & respective State Governments assured all possible assistance to the students, for which I compliment all State Governments as well. This entire effort displayed the spirit of cooperative federalism
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) September 9, 2020
Mr Pokhriyal further wrote: "JEE Mains Exams are held twice in a year. The previous one was held in January this year. Several students who didn't appear for the exam in September may have done well in the January exam hence did not feel the need to sit for the exam this time. We are ascertaining those numbers."
The latest disclosure was prompted by a social media post claiming that just 8 lakh out of 18 lakh who "downloaded passes" had appeared for the JEE Main 2020 exams.
Explaining the reason for holding exams despite the pandemic, student protests and resistance from several states, Mr Pokhriyal said: "Any further delay of the exams would not have been in the interest of our hardworking students and their plans for college admissions. Our NDA Government has always been unwavering regarding student welfare and student safety. We will always work for the interests of our youth."
According to data shared by the Education Ministry on September 4, attendance for the first day of exams for architecture and planning (BArch and BPlanning Paper), was around just 50%. It rose once the main exams for BTech (Paper 1) programmes began on September 2 but hovered around 80% in the initial days. Since then, the Education Ministry had not officially released any figures.
The NTA, this year, had to take various measures to conduct the JEE Main during the coronavirus pandemic including increasing the number of JEE Main exam centres, staggered entry and exits and providing assurance to the aspirants of safety. The engineering entrance administering agency has already released the JEE Main answer on Tuesday, September 8 to help the exam-takers ascertain their probable JEE Main scores. The JEE Main results, however, are yet to be released by NTA.
