National Testing Agency (NTA) may possibly conduct the National Eligibility Entrance Examination (NEET) in the month of July 2021. This shall be done to avoid clashing with various state board examinations being conducted in the months of May and June 2021. Clashing of board exams with NEET was never an issue before. However, due to the impact of COVID-19 on the 2020-21 academic year, board exams 2021 have been pushed back, changing the entire timeline.
Every year, board exams across the country concludes by the end of April leaving the first Sunday of May reserved for the NEET-UG examination. However, this year, the board exam dates have been shifted from February-April to May-June, 2021. CBSE board class 12 exams are from May 4 to June 11, 2021. Read more.
Most state-level board examinations are also scheduled in the months of May and June 2021. However, NEET 2021 cannot be conducted in the last week of June 2021 due to WB class 12 Boards scheduled in the last week of June. WB class 12 board will end on June 30, 2021.
NTA has now the responsibility of finalising a date for conducting NEET UG 2021 while avoiding a clash with any national or state-level board examination since NEET is the only UG medical entrance exam of the nation. The possible options however are limited for the committee.
First, NEET 2021 can be held in June 2021 by revising the dates of clashing board examinations. The next option is to conduct NEET-UG in July 2021. But, any significant delay in conducting the exam shall affect the academic year 2021-22. The third option is to conduct NEET 2021 twice as is requested by many NEET aspirants across the country.
This year, JEE Main 2021 is being conducted four times, and dates clashing with board exams are one of the many reasons. The same reason is applicable in the case of NEET-UG. The national-level medical exam must be conducted twice. By doing so, candidates who shall not be able to appear for NEET 2021 due to their boards will get another chance.
The final decision lies in the hands of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has requested MoHFW to reconsider holding NEET twice, after the proposal being rejected once, as per the reports.
Students have been eagerly waiting for months to know the official dates of NEET 2021. However, no official details are available yet. However, the MoE has confirmed that NEET 2021 syllabus will not be changed. As per the decided dates, NTA will conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG) 2021 as the single medical entrance exam in India for MBBS, BDS, AYUSH (BAMS, BHMS, BSMS) admissions.
