JEE, NEET postponed again till September in wake of Covid-19
NEW PLAN Counselling will begin in Oct and freshers may begin classes by Nov or Dec
NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry on Friday postponed the medical entrance examination NEET and the engineering entrance test to September after an expert committee felt it was not feasible to hold these competitive exams amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Keeping in mind the safety of students and to ensure quality education we have decided to postpone the JEE and NEET examinations. The JEE-MAIN examination will be held between September 1 and 6, while the Jeeadvanced exam will be held on September 27. The NEET examination will be held on September 13,” said Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.
Following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, the competitive exams for engineering and medical admissions were first postponed on May 5. The medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cumentrance
Test (NEET) was scheduled for July 26, while the Joint Entrance Exam (Jee)-mains for admission to engineering colleges was to be held from July 18-23.
The Jee-advanced, conducted for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS), was earlier scheduled for August 23.
Parents and students have been signing online petitions and conducting social media campaigns, requesting the government to postpone the engineering and medical entrance exams as well. Parents of nearly 4,000 NRI students based in West Asia also filed a petition in the Supreme Court Wednesday demanding that NEET be postponement.
Around nine lakh aspirants have registered for the JEE (main) exam, while 16 lakhs have registered for the Neet-undergraduate exams. Raising concern over the worsening of the pandemic, candidates across the country have been demanding the postponement of the exams.
According to HRD Ministry officials, the committee, headed by National Testing Agency (NTA) chief Vineet Joshi felt that delaying the exams was inevitable since many test centres were located in containment zones.
The delay, however, is likely to impact the academic calendar. According to sources, the counselling for the two crucial exams will begin in October and freshers may begin classes by November end or December first week. However, a definite plan has not been drawn yet.
Significantly, the move comes at a time when the HRD ministry is already deliberating moving the entire academic year further. The University Grants Commission (UGC) will soon examine the suggestion provided by an expert panel headed by Central University
of Haryana Vice Chancellor RC Kuhad on the issue of exams and commencement of new academic session.
The ministry is learnt to be considering using an averaging formula to ensure the last academic year can be closed in varsities where holding exams is difficult while it is also considering shifting the start of the academic year towards October.