New Delhi [India], Aug 25 (ANI): National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday reiterated that Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main) and The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) exams will be held on the dates announced earlier.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) had announced that the JEE (Main) will be held from September 1 to 6 and NEET (UG) on September 13 after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking the postponement of the NEET and JEE scheduled to be held in September 2020.
Many ministers have been opposing the Centre’s decision to conduct the exams. Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Central Government to consider filing a review petition in the Supreme Court over the dates of NEET and JEE examinations.
Mamata urges Centre to file review petition in SC over dates of NEET, JEE exams
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Central Government to consider filing a review petition in the Supreme Court over the dates of NEET and JEE examinations.
“I would request you to kindly appreciate the sensitivity of the matter and consider taking necessary action for postponing these examinations until the public health situation becomes conducive again,” Banerjee said.
She referred to her letter written earlier.
“I had requested you to kindly postpone NEET and JEE Examinations in September 2020. I have explained in the letter that the examinations will pose grave health risks to the examinees,” she said.
Banerjee said she had also requested for postponement all terminal examinations in universities/colleges across the country.
“I have been consistently arguing that the current pandemic situation is an unprecedented crisis in the country and we should not put any life in jeopardy during this pandemic period by taking such decisions. Today our government has received a letter from the National Testing Agency for conducting the JEE/NEET examinations starting from September 1, 2020. We are really worried and concerned,” she added.
Banerjee said the Supreme Court has given a verdict on the holding of JEE/NEET examinations and the central government has been issuing instructions to go ahead with it accordingly.
“However, I would like to request for your intervention and to consider the central government making an appeal to the apex court to review its decision in the interest of the student community, so that they are free from mental agony and mental disaster,” she said.
“Such intervention is very much essential in the larger interest of students to facilitate creating a situation whereby the students will neither be subjected to grave health risk nor they will be facing a career risk,” she added.
DMK president urges Education Minister to postpone JEE, NEET
DMK president MK Stalin has written a letter to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal requesting him to postpone the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) 2020, till the COVID-19 situation is brought under control.
“No decision should be made in haste putting the lives of students at stake. The government should act keeping the well-being and future of students in mind. In the light of the severe difficulties explained above, I sincerely request you to postpone the JEE, NEET until COVID-19 is brought under control,” Stalin wrote.
Stalin in his letter stated, apart from the havoc wreaked by COVID-19, many parts are yet to recover from the recent floods that ravaged people’s livelihoods. Students and parents are under enormous mental stress, trying to cope with the testing times.
With the present restrictions on public transport, the allotted exam centres are not uniformly accessible to all and it will not be possible for students belonging to rural areas and less-privileged sections to reach the exam centres. They will be put under a great disadvantage against their affluent counterparts, he added.
“This was evident from the fact that around 35,000 students could not appear for the HSC examination conducted by the Tamil Nadu government on March 24, 2020. According to reports, around 25 lakh students are expected to sit for this year’s NEET and JEE,” Stalin wrote.
Odisha CM urges education minister to postpone NEET, JEE
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday urged Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to postpone NEET 2020 and JEE Main 2020 due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
“In view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country, it would be highly unsafe and perilous for the students to appear in these tests,” CM Patnaik said.
Notably, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is scheduled to conduct the JEE (Main) on September 1-6 and NEET on September 13.
He also informed the Union Education Minister that transportation in Odisha has been disrupted because of the lockdown enforced by many district administrations in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“Odisha has got vast tribal pockets having geographically inaccessible areas…the students of these areas may be deprived of appearing in these tests, as they will have to travel long distances to come to the examination centres,” Patnaik stated in the letter.
Reiterating the request for postponing the exams, Patnaik added, “Whenever NTA holds these tests, it may be directed to open centres in all the 30 districts of the State so that students have to travel maximum 2-3 hours to reach the test centres and go back home the same day and thus ensure maximum participation of the students in these tests.”
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury requests PM Modi to defer JEE, NEET
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to defer the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) till the COVID-19 situation improves.
“Aspirants are under tremendous mental pressure as to how they could remain immune while attending exams physically. In this pandemic situation their concerns should be given consideration. The spectre of corona will be haunting the students during the examination period stretching from September 1,” he wrote to PM Modi.
“When the country is experiencing a spike of infection exceeding 70,000 cases daily, I think it is necessary to review the date of exam because about 25 lakh students are supposed to take it,” he added.
SC refuses to direct holding NEET abroad, asks to allow students to come via Vande Bharat Mission
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to pass direction to the Central government to hold the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate (UG) 2020 examination in Gulf countries, but asked the government to allow students to come via Vande Bharat Mission flights to give the exams.
A bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao said that the quarantine norms are mandatory for students who would come from the Middle East countries to give exam but allowed petitioners to approach State authorities to seek relaxation.
The bench said the exam will be offline and the students who fly in will have to maintain the 14 days quarantine in view of public health.
The top court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to speak to ministries concerned to ensure aspirants, for the NEET scheduled on September 13, residing in the Middle East are permitted to come to India in Vande Bharat Mission flights.
Recently, the Medical Council of India has told the apex court that postponement of the NEET UG 2020 examination of this year any further shall be a “drastic deviation” from the academic schedule which may affect the subsequent academic years of the students.
The MCI, in an affidavit, had said plea for overseas examination centres for NEET (UG) does not deserve indulgence from the top court in view of the fact that the Government of India has permitted travel to and from other countries, through Vande Bharat Mission.
The Central government, under the Vande Bharat Mission, has permitted Indian citizens, including overseas citizens of India, to come to India by special flights, the affidavit has added while seeking dismissal of the plea.
The top court was hearing plea filed by parents of nearly 4,000 NEET (UG) candidates, who sought to alternatively postpone the examination until the COVID-19 pandemic normalises.
The parents of these candidates, who reside in Doha, Qatar, Oman, and UAE, have approached the apex court challenging the Kerala High Court June 30 order which had dismissed their plea.
In their appeal against the Kerala High Court order, the general secretary of Kerala Muslim Culture Centre in Qatar, Abdul Azeez said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had the capability and willingness to open exam centres in Gulf countries as they had been doing so for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main).
Earlier, the NTA had told the court that it is not possible to have overseas examination centres NEET (UG) 2020 as the examination is conducted in paper book format. (ANI)
