While the Center is adamant to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-2020 and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main-2020 in September, students across the nation are in a distressful frenzy. The coronavirus cases in India are now above 3 lakh and the decision of the Supreme Court receiving flak from every walk of life, including politicians.
JEE Main 2020 is due to be held from September 01 to 06 and the exam date for NEET 2020 is September 13, 2020. On one hand, National Testing Agency is all set to released NEET 2020 admit card and conduct the exams. On the other hand, ministers from various political parties are urging the Education Ministry to postpone the exam.
Subramanian Swamy was the first one who wrote to PM Modi and MHRD. However, his request was ignored. Soon after, political leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Manish Sisodia, M.K. Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, and more took to social media to convince Center not to hold NEET and JEE Main amid the pandemic.
West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, wrote in a two parts tweet, “In our video conference with the Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi ji, I had been vocal against the UGC guidelines….Now with the directive to conduct NEET, JEE 2020 in Sep, I would again appeal to the Center to assess the risk and postpone these examinations until the situation is conducive again. It is our duty to ensure a safe environment for all our students.”
Rahul Gandhi also tweeted his concern for the same. He tweeted that, “आज हमारे लाखों छात्र सरकार से कुछ कह रहे हैं। NEET, JEE परीक्षा के बारे में उनकी बात सुनी जानी चाहिए और सरकार को एक सार्थक हल निकालना चाहिए। GOI must listen to the #StudentsKeMannKiBaat about NEET, JEE exams and arrive at an acceptable solution.”
Priyanka Gandhi also joined in the trending hashtag on twitter “Satyagarh against exams in Covid” and tweeted the following:
Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s Education Minister, has also urged the authorities to cancel the examinations and find alternative ways for the admission process. It is not right for the authorities to play with the student’s life by asking them to come to the test centers during this pandemic. In a series of tweets, he said that “the central government is playing with the lives of millions of students in the name of the examination. Thinking that only NEET and JEE exam are the only options for admission is very narrow and impractical. “
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav also targeted the Union government on the issue and demanded the government should not force the students to take the examinations without making arrangements for “corona safe transportation and examination centers” for them.
President, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Mr. M.K Stalin have also shown a strong disagreement on his letter to Ramesh Pokhriyal. He has urged to “postpone the JEE, NEET exams immediately.” The letter was tweeted by him from his official twitter handle too.
MP and National President Lok Janshakti Party Chirag Paswan have also written to the education minister, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on the postponement of the JEE Main 2020 and NEET 2020. He then tweeted the same on his official twitter account:
Subramanian Swamy has also not given up. In his recent post, he compared the conducting of the exams to 1879 nasbandi fiasco and asked the govt. to reconsider the decision.
Students from across the country are demanding the Government to cancel NEET and JEE Main 2020 exam in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases. Over 4,200 students participated in a day-long hunger strike demanding the cancellation and postponement of the engineering and medical entrance exams. The students took to twitter using the #SATYAGRAHagainstExamInCovid, to urge the government to pay heed to their demands. However, until now, no response for postponing the exams has been made by MHRD or the Center.
