Days after CBSE cancelled the remaining class 10 and 12 board exams, National Testing Agency (NTA) and other experts will take a call on conducting medical entrance exam NEET and engineering exam JEE in July as coronavirus cases continue to rise.
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said a panel has been asked to decide the feasibility of conducting NEET 2020 and JEE Mains 2020.
"Looking at the prevailing circumstances and requests received from students & parents appearing for JEE and NEEET examinations, a committee consisting of officials from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other experts has been advised to review the situation and submit its recommendations latest by tomorrow," Nishank said.
While medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is scheduled on July 26, the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Mains, for admission in engineering colleges, is scheduled from July 18-23.
Students have been signing online petitions and pursuing Twitter campaigns, and requesting the government to postpone the engineering and medical entrance exams as well.
Parents of nearly 4,000 NRI students based in West Asia also filed a petition in the Supreme Court Wednesday demanding the NEET be postponement. They have noted that there are no exam centres outside India and international travel is still restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Assuming that they (the students) have seats in Vande Bharat Mission flights, the students will be exposed to Covid-19 risks as also they would have to undergo quarantine on their arrival in India," the petition filed by the parents said.