JEE, NEET 2020: Students continue to protest on social media, gain support across political party lines

After much back and forth, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on August 21 that it will conduct the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main) 2020 and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2020 as per schedule in September. JEE Mains will be held between 1 and 6 September and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, NEET UG will be conducted on 13 September.  

This after massive protests across the country on social media with videos of NEET and JEE aspirants pouring in to postpone exams till after the coronavirus pandemic shows a decline in numbers. 

Students from flood affected areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are more impacted with them having to face the pandemic and also with lack of facilities or appropriate transport to reach exam centres.

Pratik Kumar a NEET UG aspirant from Patna made an appeal that even though the government has created a SOP from exact, they are not being followed.

"India also does not have good Covid facilities and now they are not just putting us at risk, they are also putting our guardians at risk. When they talk about SOPs, hardly any are followed.. if they were followed we wouldn't be seeing daily rise in Covid-19 cases in India," he said.

A mother made a passionate appeal in a video on social media, "I want to request government that I do not want to send my son out to give an exam outside in crowded places since he is an asthma patient. So I request you to cancel JEE mains," she said with folded hands.

Adnan Fareed, a JEE aspirant from Kashmir wrote, "My JEE exams are on 4 September but here in Kashmir Covid-19 cases are rising daily. 1000 cases are recorded per day so how is it possible for us to write exam with fear of Covid? It is not possible."

Supreme Court dismissed petition to postpone JEE and NEET

Supreme Court had previously dismissed petitions of 11 students on the cancellation of examinations.

Sources have told India Today that the ministry is also of the view that the examinations are important and will not be cancelled, but maybe postponed after due consultation with the Ministry of Family Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The students have received political support from across party lines.

Rahul Gandhi, other ministers speak up against exams

Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter today and posted : "GOI must listen to the #StudentsKeMannKiBaat about NEET, JEE exams and arrive at an acceptable solution."

MP and National President Lok Janshakti Party Chirag Paswan wrote a letter to the education minister, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on the postponement of the JEE Main 2020 and NEET 2020 in September.

He also wrote to the



education minister highlighting the health and safety concerns related to the conduct of these exams.

"Wrote to the Education Minister highlighting concerns of parents about JEE and NEET," Paswan said on social media.

The opposition leader in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, too, has sought a postponement.

He wrote on social media: "Central Govt, NTA, UGC and IIT Delhi must have a considerate and humane view of the plight of the students and youth of this country! This hurry to conduct exams amidst spiking COVID cases will prove to be costly! In Bihar floods+Govt apathy will compound problems!"

Rajya Sabha MP from BJP Subramanian Swamy wrote to PM Narendra Modi to postpone the JEE mains and NEET exams scheduled to be held in September.

In the letter he said, "The required infrastructure of the country is not in place for students to take the NEET and JEE and other competitive examination. In Bombay for example, there is no public transport available people have to come from adjacent areas almost 20 to 30 km away. There is widespread desperation among the youth since this exam is make or break for them and they have to take it fully prepared."

The letter also states, "Holding the exam in my opinion we may lead to a large number of suicides around the country of youth. The Supreme Court judgement doesn't mind the government at all.... on whether to now or two weeks later or two months later, the examinations. It is a policy decision of the government."

The Rajya Sabha MP has requested that the education ministry conduct these exams after Diwali.

Priyanka Gandhi has called for a "Satyagarh against exams in Covid" in a tweet she wrote

"This situation is not normal in the country when it comes to coronavirus. If students and parents are expressing some reservations on the issue then the government as well the testing agency should do re-thinking on conducting these exams. ##SATYAGRAH_AgainstExamsInCovid," she wrote. 

NTA says NEET, JEE to go ahead as planned

However, the NTA clarified that the engineering and medical undergraduate entrance exams will be conducted on schedule following the Supreme Court order.

In a statement, NTA said there is absolutely no justification in the prayer made for the postponement of the examination related to NEET UG-2020 as well as JEE (Main) April 2020.

"In our opinion, though there is pandemic situation, but ultimately life has to go and the career of the students cannot be put on peril for long and full academic year cannot be wasted," the statement said.

It further added that the examination is going to be held with due precaution and it will not be postponed.