New Delhi, Jul 3 (UNI) The JEE and NEET examinations, for admission to undergraduate engineering and medical courses respectively, have been postponed and the Joint Entrance Examination-Main (JEE-Main) will be now be held from September 1-6, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The JEE Advanced will be held on September 27 and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on September 13.
Stating that "students' health is the first priority", Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Friday announced the decision to postpone the entrance examinations for the NEET UG 2020 and JEE till September.
The decision will impact over 25 lakh students as the postponement will lead to corresponding delay in the beginning of the academic year for new students, possibly reducing a semester. As many as nine lakh candidates have registered to take the JEE Main, and approximately 16 lakh for NEET.
In his address to the students, Mr Pokhriyal said "our priority during this epidemic is to ensure safety and academic welfare of students. We will ensure that while conducting the examination, we strictly follow the guidelines given by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Health Ministry so that students are kept away from the grip of this epidemic."
He said social distancing will also be followed in the examination centres and all other precautionary arrangements will also be made. Mr Pokhriyal advised all the students to remove all kinds of stress from their minds and pay attention to their studies.
The National Testing Agency has prepared a testing App for all the candidates through which students can complete their preparations.
JEE-Main was originally scheduled to be held between April 7 to 11, while NEET was scheduled for May 3, after school board examinations were completed. However, due to COVID-19-induced lockdown from March 24, board examinations were affected.
JEE-Main and NEET were then rescheduled to July 18-23 and July 26 respectively. For IIT aspirants, JEE-Main is only the first stage, followed by the JEE-Advanced examination which had been rescheduled for August 23.
Earlier this evening, Mr Pokhriyal, who was taking part in a webinar on Fit India, was pestered by demands from anxious students and parents to postpose the examinations.
The announcement came after the Fit India webinar, during which the HRD Minister was persistently questioned regarding the dates for NEET and JEE Main exams.
Recently, parents of candidates from West Asian countries, who are aspiring to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG 2020), had filed a plea in the Supreme Court demanding that the medical entrance exam be postponed.
A committee was set up by the HRD Ministry to review the Covid-19 situation in the country and whether conducting the NEET and JEE tests would be safe or not.
"Looking at the prevailing circumstances and requests received from students and parents appearing for #JEE & #NEET examinations, a committee consisting of DG NTA and other experts has been advised to review the situation & submit its recommendations to HRD Ministry latest by tomorrow," Mr Pokhriyal had tweeted on Thursday.
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