In a recent meeting held among the Health Ministry, Education Ministry, and the National Testing Agency, it has been decided that NEET 2021 will be held twice a year starting from 2021. The decision has been taken to reduce the stress among the candidates. In the meeting, the mode of the exam was also discussed, however, it was felt that not all NEET aspirants are ready for the online mode of exam, so as of now the mode stays offline.
In a television interview earlier, the education minister has said that they are mulling on holding NEET 2021 twice.
Also, some days ago, and as per the reports, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) had stated that all decision regarding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Tests – UG is under their belt. Now that the MoHFW has agreed to conduct NEET twice a year, it can be taken as an official statement.
NEET 2021 will now be held in the lines of JEE Main. This means the exam will be held twice and the best score out of both the attempts will be considered to prepare the rank list. However, only for this year, JEE Main is being held 4 times. JEE Main 2021 will be held on 23-26 Feb 2021, 15-18 Mar 2021, 27-30 Apr 2021, and 24-28 May 2021.
NEET 2021 dates have yet not been announced. Now that the frequency of the exam has been decided, it can be expected that a decision of the exam dates will be made soon. Right now the dates have ye not been finalised.
Students have been demanding the conduction of NEET 2021 twice since the time NTA announced that JEE Main will be held twice. NTA has been holding JEE Main twice a year since 2019 and in 2021 the exam is being conducted 4 times. The demand of the NEET aspirants started to accelerate after the COVID-19 pandemic which brought irregular academic sessions leading to stress among the students.
NEET, on the other hand, was being held offline and once a year. NEET aspirants called this ‘unfair’. However, all NEET related decision mostly remains with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). However, finally, the ultimate decision has been given by MoHFW after discussion with the Education Ministry and NTA, that NEET will be held twice starting from 2021.
NTA conducts the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test. It is the national level medical entrance exam for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH (BAMS, BHMS, BSMS) courses in India.
