Even as the government has cancelled Class 10 and Class 12 board exams of the CBSE and CISCE boards. After the central government, several state boards also cancelled the Class 12 exams.
The cancellation of class 12 board exams on Tuesday in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation will bring more clarity and the schedule for the subsequent entrance examinations is expected to be decided soon.
However, the Ministry of Education has not yet taken any decision on the entrance exams which are scheduled to be held in the upcoming months.
As per the latest update by PTI, The Ministry of Education will soon review the situation to decide on conducting the two remaining editions of engineering entrance exams JEE-Mains and medical entrance exam NEET in August.
JEE Mains
From this session, the JEE-Mains is being conducted four times a year to offer flexibility to students and a chance to improve their scores. The first phase in February was followed by the second in March, while the next phases were scheduled for April and May.
But they were postponed after an exponential rise in Covid cases during the second wave of the pandemic.
Recently, JEE-Advanced, which is conducted for admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology, was also postponed. The exam was scheduled for July 3.
NEET-UG
While no further decision was taken about NEET-UG, the registration of the exam which was supposed to commence from May 1, was kept in abeyance.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to hold a review meeting soon, to decide on how to conduct the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main exams amid the pandemic.
A senior government official told India today, that the entrance exams cannot be cancelled and should be held after considering the pandemic situation, “The government is aware that the entrance examinations need to be conducted. Unlike the board exams, they cannot be cancelled because college seats are filled up on a competitive test basis,“ he stated.
“However, it is not right to put a timeline as to when the exams will be held as this may lead to undue anxiety among participants. The Covid-19 situation is being closely studied,” he further said.
According to India today's report, the tests are not expected to be cancelled this year, given the fact that they took place last year despite the unfavourable conditions created by the pandemic.
CUCET
The ministry is also yet to decide on the fate of the Central University Common Entrance Test (CUCET) and a decision in this regard is expected after the CBSE announces its alternative assessment criteria for class 12 boards.
The government on Tuesday decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic across the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the decision has been taken in the interest of students and the anxiety among students, parents and teachers must be put to an end.
(With inputs from PTI)
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