The Joint Entrance Examination and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test should be postponed until the spread of COVID-19 was brought under control, DMK president MK Stalin on Monday urged Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.
DMK president MK Stalin
Chennai:
Besides COVID-19, which has wreaked havoc on the nation, many parts of the country were yet to recover from the recent floods, he said in a letter to Pokhriyal. Students and parents are under enormous mental stress, he said, adding that considering the current restrictions on public transportation, the allotted exam centres are not uniformly accessible to all the aspirants. “It will not be possible for students belonging to rural areas and less-privileged sections to reach the exam centres. They will be put under a great disadvantage against their affluent counterparts,” he said.
Moreover, The National Testing Agency has made it mandatory for the students to give an undertaking that they “are neither COVID-19 positive nor have any symptoms.” However, in light of the fact that most of the infected remains asymptomatic, demanding self declaration from the students does not seem to be effective in any possible way, the Dravidian party chief argued.
“No decision shall be made in haste putting the lives of students at stake. The government shall act, keeping the well-being and future of students in mind. In the light of the severe difficulties, I sincerely request you to postpone the JEE, NEET exams until COVID-19 is brought under control,” he urged.