Students want JEE, NEET exams to be conducted: Pokhriyal

Amid fierce political opposition on holding NEET/JEE examinations, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday said students want the exams to be held at any cost.

“It is not proper for the students to waste one academic year. It would affect their career,” Nishank said adding that education should be above politics.

The minister said the response he had received from students was an indicator that they want the examinations to be held “at any cost”.

Also read: Outrageous and insensitive to conduct JEE-NEET now, says CPI(M)

He pointed out that 7.5 lakh students, out of the total 8.58 lakh who have applied to appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), have already downloaded their admit cards.

For the NEET examinations, more than 10 lakh students, out of the total 15.97 lakh, have downloaded their admit cards.

Meanwhile, over 150 academicians from various universities in India and abroad have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of conducting the exam, contending that any further delay in JEE-Mains and NEET will mean compromising the future of students.

The signatories include academicians from the Delhi University, IGNOU, Lucknow University, JNU, BHU, IIT Delhi and Indian academicians from foreign universities such as University of London, University of California, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University, Israel, among others.

JEE-Main was scheduled from April 7-11, but postponed to July 18-23, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. NEET-UG was originally scheduled for May 3, then pushed to July 26.

JEE-Main is now to be held from September 1-6, while the NEET (UG) is scheduled for September 13.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several other leaders have urged the Centre to further postpone the NEET/JEE exams citing the Covid-19 pandemic.