Swedish teen climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg on Tuesday threw her weight behind postponing the NEET and the JEE exams in India in view of the coronavirus, saying it is "deeply unfair" that students are asked to appear in the crucial tests during the pandemic. The chorus for postponing the various examinations grew louder on Sunday with over 4,000 students observing a day-long hunger strike to press for the demand.
Voicing her support to the calls for the deferment, Thunberg took to Twitter.
"It's deeply unfair that students of India are asked to sit for national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to postpone the exams," she said in a tweet. Meanwhile, Thunberg, 17, has returned to school after a gap of one year. "My gap year from school is over, and it feels so great to finally be back in school again!" she wrote on Instagram where she also posted a photo of herself with a schoolbag and a bicycle. The Swedish government has allowed opening of high school-level classes this week.
Two years ago, she started missing lessons most Fridays to protest outside the Swedish Parliament building, in what turned out to be the beginning of a huge environmental movement.