JEE (Main) deferred, new dates to be out 15 days before exam

NEW DELHI : The next phase of Joint Entrance Exam — Main (JEE Main), which was slated to be held from April 27 to 30, has been postponed due to the upsurge in Covid-19 cases across the country, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Sunday.

The revised dates will be announced at least 15 days prior to the exam, it added.

“Looking into the present situation of the Covid-19 pandemic and also taking into account the safety and well-being of the candidates and examination functionaries, it has been decided to postpone the JEE (Main) - 2021 April session,” the agency said in a statement.

The first two sessions were completed in February and March.

Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ also confirmed the development in a tweet. “Given the current Covid-19 situation, I have advised NTA to postpone the JEE (Main) – 2021 April session. I would like to reiterate that the safety of our students and their academic career are Education Ministry’s and my prime concerns right now,” he said.

All students were advised to visit the official NTA website www.nta.ac.in and https://jeemain.nta.nic.in/ for latest updates related to the exams.

The decision to defer the exam was taken in the wake of several requests from both candidates and parents.

Earlier, concerns were raised about the effect of deferment of Class 12 CBSE and other state board exams on JEE (Main), JEE (Advance) and NEET exams.

On Thursday, the Union health ministry postponed the NEET (PG) exams for admission to masters’ programmes in most private and government medical colleges. The exams were supposed to be held on Sunday. The admissions to various Under Graduate programmes of the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (West Bengal) and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (excluding IITs) are made on the basis of ranks/ merit secured in JEE (Main).