In yet another blow for those who had sought a deferment of exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to intervene for the upcoming NEET exam, adding that now, "everything is over". The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2020 examination is scheduled to be held on September 13 and many had submitted petitions seeking its postponement.
The issue has, in recent weeks seen many political leaders, students and even international activists urge the government to postpone exams amid the pandemic. While some, including Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy had continued their efforts even as the Joint Entrance Examination went ahead, this too had not borne fruit.
Now, after the apex court's decision, Swamy took to Twitter criticising the situation. The BJP leader said that "out 18 lakhs who down loaded passes only 8 lakhs turned up" to take the JEE exam.
"What a disgrace for the nation which extols vidhya and gyan!!" he wrote.
Information given by the National Testing agency however provides a different set of numbers. As per a notice on the government website, the JEE had had h 858395 candidates registered.
"The JEE(Main)April/September, 2020 has been conducted throughout the country and abroad from 1 st September, 2020 to 6th September,2020 through the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode in which 858395 candidates were registered," the notice reads.
