Amid coronavirus outbreak, Centre’s decision to hold the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) exam has irked students across the country. On Sunday, students took to Twitter and urged the government to postpone the two nationwide examinations.
While NEET is scheduled for September 13, JEE-Main will be held between September 1 to 6. In a statement, the ministry's National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts these exams, said that over 6.4 lakh candidates have downloaded their admit cards for the engineering entrance exam, JEE-Main.
All India Students Association said, "Lakhs of students and their parents are on Satyagraha. The government has no right to put students at risk for the exam when it is seen as a complete failure to prevent the corona being spread indiscriminately in the country."
Several students and parents took to the microblogging site on Sunday, to express their distress and urged for cancellation of the examinations. And, soon after #SATYAGRAH_AgainstExamsInCovid and #StudentsKeMannKiBaat started trending on Twitter.
One student wrote on Twitter, "This is not a political matter. This is for the benefit of the students. Some people want to make this a political matter. This is wrong. The students are with the government. But the government should support."
While, another user wrote: "More and More students joined 3,200 students are on Hunger Strike today! Students Lives Matters! Students demand cancellation/postponement of exams!"
Joining the chorus against the decision to conduct JEE-Main and NEET, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also urged the government to take into account concerns of students who have been demanding postponement of the entrance examinations.
"Today lakhs of students are saying something. The GOI must listen to the Students Ke Mann Ki Baat about NEET, JEE exams and arrive at an acceptable solution," the Congress leader said in a tweet.
On Saturday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi's Education Minister Manish Sisodia had also requested the Central government to cancel the JEE and NEET. "The Central government is playing with the lives of millions of students in the name of JEE-NEET. My request to the Centre is to cancel both these exams immediately and make an alternative arrangement for admission this year. In this time of unprecedented crisis, an unprecedented step will lead to a solution," Sisodia tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking postponement of JEE (Main) April 2020 and NEET-Undergraduate examinations, which are scheduled to be conducted in September amid spurt in number of COVID-19 cases, saying precious year of students "cannot be wasted" and life has to go on.
