Given the rising number of COVID-19 patients across the country every day, parents want the exams to be held later; seek clarity on govts stand
Parents want the revised schedule to be further revised as cases continue to rise across India. Representation pic
Parents of students waiting to appear for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Entrance and Eligibility Test (NEET) are seeking clarity on the exams which were scheduled in September.
Citing the current situation due to COVID-19 dangerous for the lakhs of aspirants, parents have written to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) seeking clarity on the government's stand with their demand to further postpone the examinations.
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The two nation-wide entrance examinations were originally scheduled in April but were postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As per the current schedule, The JEE-Main is scheduled to be conducted from September 1-6 and JEE- Advanced on September 27 whereas NEET is scheduled on September 13.
However, parents feel that the revised schedule needs further revision as cases continue to rise all over the country.
"The exams were first scheduled for April when the cases were less as compared to today. The government then postponed the exams to July. Later, the authorities postponed the July dates citing the lockdown in several states. But now, the situation has changed for worse and there's even more risk, an even bigger reason to postpone the exams," reads the much-detailed letter by the India Wide Parents Association (IWPA) sent to the MHRD.
The letter points out how the number of students appearing for these examinations is huge and so ensuring social distancing while conducting exams would be difficult. It further states how travelling within the city is dangerous and has pictures attached from outside the exam centres to explain the amount of crowd the exams attract.
Anubha Sahai, from the IWPA, said, "We are demanding that the examinations be postponed further and clarity should be provided well in advance."
According to parents, as per new unlock guidelines, education institutions will remain closed till August 31 and so opening them in September and immediately holding examinations looks farfetched.
13 Sept
Day NEET is scheduled to be conducted
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