Indore: National Testing Agency (NTA) will review the condition and check the feasibility of conducting the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)—for undergraduate engineering courses and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)—for undergraduate medical courses.
The government on Thursday formed a panel to review the schedules for JEE and NEET, which are slated to be held later this month.
The move comes after anxious students and parents took to Twitter to express concern over conducting the examination.
Replying through his twitter handle, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank stated that he has asked the committee to review the situation and submit the report latest by tomorrow. The decision on whether to conduct or defer the examinations, accordingly, would be taken by the MHRD.
It added that Director General, National Testing Agency has been asked to look into the issue of whether JEE and NEET-UG can be held this month in light of the COVID pandemic.
Until now, JEE Mains 2020 second attempt is scheduled from July 18 to 23. And as per latest notification, admit cards would be released 15 days before the exam.
Probability for cancellation of NEET, JEE 2020 examinations seems strong as NTA has not yet issued admit cards for JEE Mains and NEET 2020.
Several states have also extended lockdown. This makes it more likely for the examinations to be cancelled.
However, an official announcement has not been made yet. It is more likely to be made after the expert committee of NTA will send its report to the HRD Ministry on Friday.
Students campaign to cancel exams
Since the announcement of JEE dates, many students raised questions on the health risk that is involved for appearing in the exams.
In their tweets, comments and posts, students had been quoting risks involved in conducting the examination and requesting the government to extend the exam dates or cancel the exams as managing lakhs of students at limited centres would lead to greater risks.
Some educationists have also joined the campaign and raised the issue of risks involved in conducting competitive examinations.
Even on the JEE update about admit cards, many students said that they had prepared extremely well for the exams but now are not willing to appear as the pandemic had stressed them too much to prepare for them.
Moreover, with delayed academic session and lack of clarity on this year’s academic calendar, students do not want to risk wasting their year
