The Central government has decided to postpone the national level medical and engineering exams. The decision was taken after a panel, which was formed to decide the feasibility of conducting medical entrance exam NEET and engineering exam JEE Main in July as coronavirus cases are rising in the country, has recommended rescheduling the exams. The exams will be held in September now.
The NEET exams will be held on September 13 while the JEE Main examinations will be conducted between September 1 and September 6.
The JEE Advanced or IIT JEE will be held on September 27.
“Keeping in mind the safety of students and to ensure quality education we have decided to postpone #JEE & #NEET examinations. JEE Main examination will be held between 1st-6th Sept, JEE advanced exam will be held on 27th Sept & NEET examination will be held on 13th Sept,” the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” tweeted.
Keeping in mind the safety of students and to ensure quality education we have decided to postpone #JEE & #NEET examinations. JEE Main examination will be held between 1st-6th Sept, JEE advanced exam will be held on 27th Sept & NEET examination will be held on 13th Sept. pic.twitter.com/klTjtBxvuw
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 3, 2020
The HRD Ministry move came after parents and students raised concerns about conducting the exams in July, when COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly.
While the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was scheduled on July 26, the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main, for admission in engineering colleges, was scheduled from July 18-23.
The JEE-Advanced, which is conducted for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), was scheduled for August 23.
Students have been signing online petitions and pursuing Twitter campaigns, and requesting the government to postpone the engineering and medical entrance exams.
Parents of nearly 4,000 NRI students based in West Asia also filed a petition in the Supreme Court Wednesday demanding that the NEET exam be postponed.
They have appealed that there are no exam centres outside India and international travel is still restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
