
Amidst outcry from the student community, Amit Khare, Secretary, Minister of Education on Friday confirmed that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) will not be postponed.
“NEET 2020 will not be postponed. The Supreme Court has given a very clear order,” said Amit Khare.
Earlier today, BJP MLA Subramanian Swamy had requested the Education Minister to postpone the examination taking into consideration the rising COVID-19 cases and had also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the exams to be postponed at least till after Diwali.
“Holding the exams, in my opinion, may lead to a large number of suicides by youths around the country,” he said in an urgent letter to Modi.
He also took to Twitter, conveying the same.
I have just spoken to the Minister of Education suggesting that NEET and other exams be conducted after Deepavali. The SC order the other day is not a bar since the Hon’ble Court has left the date to the government. I am sending an urgent letter to the PM just now.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) August 21, 2020
#ProtestAgainstExamsInCOVID was trending at position one on twitter today with over 285 M tweets. Earlier, many student organizations had written letters and petitions were also filed in the court against this decision. Despite letters, pleas, and twitter storms, NEET and JEE exams will be held as per schedule according to the latest updates.
The Supreme Court had also dismissed a plea seeking postponement of these exams in a hearing on August 15.
Admit cards for the JEE (Main) examination have already been issued by NTA and that of NEET will be released soon according to the official notification by the National Testing Agency.