In the latest development on the national level entrance exam case, six Indian states have appealed to Supreme Court (SC) for postponing Joint Entrance (JEE) Main 2020 and National Eligibility Cum Entrance Examination (NEET) 2020. The appeal has been made today, on August 28, 2020. It is a review petition on SC’s judgment given on August 17. In the verdict, SC stated that JEE Main and NEET shall be held as per schedule, dismissing the facts that number of coronavirus cases are touching peak and numerous states are facing flood, lockdown, etc.
The appeal has been filed by ministers Moloy Ghatak (West Bengal), Rameshwar Oraon (Jharkhand), Raghu Sharma (Rajasthan), Amarjeet Bhagat (Chhattisgarh), BS Sidhu (Punjab) and Uday Ravindra Sawant(Maharashtra).
In a recent meet held yesterday, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, called for joint effort to voice for postponement of NEET and JEE Main exams. Taking action on that call, Supreme Court has been approached by these states.
Read Here: Mamata Banerjee Raises Voice For JEE/NEET 2020 Postponement, Asks State Govts To Work Together
The plea has been filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes.
MHRD, Ramesh Pokhriyal has said that over 17 lakh candidates have downloaded the admit card, showing that students want exams at any cost.
But on social media trends demanding postponing of the exams is spreading like a wildfire. The issue has also caught attention at international level and has been trending with hashtags like #SpeakUpForStudentSafety, #JusticeForStudents, and #StudentsInSCForJustice. There are around 2.24 million tweets and counting, in this category.
The protests to postpone NEET and JEE Main 2020 will now even take place in front of the @UN headquarter, New York. This has been tweeted by Licypriya Kangujam who is a Climate & Environmental Activist.
On one hand, the opposition government is holding protest demanding NEET and JEE Main 2020 postponement. On the other hand, 150 academicians that include personalities from Delhi University, IGNOU, Lucknow University, JNU, BHU, IIT Delhi and Indian academicians from foreign universities such as the University of London, University of California, etc. have written to PM about postpone the exam. However, IITs are in favor of the decision to hold the exams.
“Youths and students are the future of the nation but in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, clouds of uncertainty have gathered over their careers too. There are a lot of apprehensions about admission and classes which need to be resolved at the earliest,” they have said in their letter.
Further the letter quoted “We strongly believe that the central government will successfully conduct the JEE and NEET exams taking full precautions to ensure that the future of students is taken care of and the academic calendar for 2020-21 is rolled out.”
The question still remains that are the opposition government truly interested in students’ safety or are politicising the issue. An educational issue is seen to be tending under the category “Politics”.
NEET expert, Dr. Amit Gupta, talks about the solution rather than the issues. He says to conduct NEET 2020 in phases, in a way that every candidate gets a fair chance to write the exam.
NEET 2020 and JEE Main 2020 has already been deferred twice in the rise of pandemic. NEET was to be held on May 3, 2020, but then was pushed to July 26. Now the date has been finalized as September 13, and NTA has already issued admit card for the exam.
JEE Main 2020 has also been deferred twice. The initial exam date was April 7 to 11, but then got delayed to July 18-23. The schedule now stands to be September 1 to 6, 2020. NTA has also issued the admit card for JEE Main 2020 as well.
Dear students and parents,
We understand the hard situation that you all are going through. We would like to know your views about this agitation with NEET and JEE Main dates. How far is it helping you or is it adding to more stress? Please comment below and voice your opinion.
