Students preparing to appear for the pending two sessions of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2021 are in jeopardy as there is a gap of just two days between the sessions. The third session of JEE (Main) 2021 will be conducted from July 20 to July 25 and the fourth session from July 27 to August 2, 2021, announced the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the former Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said, "There were some concerns among students regarding JEE (Main) 2021 examination April and May sessions that were postponed due to the second wave of Covid-19." The National Testing Agency (NTA), the agency that conducts JEE (Main) exams, stated the third session (April session) of JEE (Main) 2021 will be conducted from July 20 to July 25 and the fourth session (May session) will be held from July 27 to August 2, 2021.
In response to this announcement, students preparing for both the attempts said the schedule is unfair as there is a gap of just two days between the two sessions. Niharika Lalwani, a student said, "Initially, the sessions were scheduled a month apart for a reason so that we get time to prepare and improve our performance in the next attempt. But now, how are we supposed to practice and improve in just two to seven days after we appear for one session?"
Rahees Zainab, another student said, "It seems like the Central Government and NTA wants to finish conducting the exams in a hurry. But JEE (Main) is a competitive test for which students prepare for more than two years. We cannot rush with such exams. Students need to be given sufficient time to prepare, analyse, rectify mistakes and improve their scores in the next attempt."
Over 6.80 lakh students had registered for the JEE (Main) 2021 April session and 6.09 lakh students had registered for the May session. Earlier this year, the former Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had announced that JEE (Main) 2021 will be conducted four times a year in February, March, April and May 2021. The JEE (Main) April and May sessions were postponed due to Covid-19 second wave.
JEE (Main) is conducted for admission to Undergraduate (UG) engineering programmes. The competitive exam also serves as an eligibility test for JEE (Advanced), which is conducted for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
