The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced scheduled to be conducted on July 3, 2021 has been postponed due to Covid-19 surge, said the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) on Wednesday. The revised date of the competitive exam will be announced later, the institute said.
On Wednesday, IIT Kharagpur posted a notice on the official website of JEE Advanced stating, "Considering the prevailing pandemic situation due to COVID-19, JEE (Advanced) 2021 which was scheduled to be held on July 3, 2021 (Saturday) stands postponed. The revised date of examination will be announced at an appropriate time."
This year, JEE Advanced, the competitive test for admissions to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), is slated to be conducted by IIT Kharagpur under the guidance of the Joint Admission Board (JAB). Initially, the exam which is generally conducted in May or June was deferred to July. The eligibility criteria of scoring 75 per cent marks has been waived for the ease of students.
Earlier in January 2021, the Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had said, "In order to ease the academic burden of students, we have scrapped the eligibility criteria of scoring 75 per cent aggregate marks in Class 12 exam. This will enable more students to appear for the entrance exam and seek admissions to IITs."
