JEE,NEET
Students want JEE, NEET at any cost: HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
New Delhi/IBNS: India's Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday said lakhs of students of the country want the conduction of engineering and medical entrance examinations, just a day ahead of the launch of countrywide protests by the political forces.
Pokhriyal Nishank said as quoted by several media, "NTA DG told me that 7.5 lakhs out of 8.58 lakhs candidates in JEE have downloaded admit cards. For NEET, over 10 lakhs out of 15.97 lakhs candidates downloaded admit cards in 24 hours. It shows that students want exams to be held at any cost."
Disappointing thousands of students across the country, Amit Khare, the secretary of HRD Ministry, last Friday said the Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) cannot be deferred.
Khare cited the Supreme Court order which had given a nod to hold the two examinations.
Several pleas were filed in the Supreme Court seeking a postponement of the entrance examinations due to the Covid-19 situation.
The top court has, however, rejected all the petitions stating examinations can't be deferred indefinitely.
Several opposition parties including the Congress are set to launch a countrywide protest against the conduction of JEE and NEET.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged the counterparts of the non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) states to move the Supreme Court seeking a postponement of the twin examinations, if the central government does not entertain their requests.
However, more than 150 academicians have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi supporting the decision to go ahead with holding the JEE, NEET, and not play with the future of students for their political agenda.
Stating that it "wholeheartedly welcomes" the government's move to hold the exams in September, the letter cites the Supreme Court order dismissing a petition to postpone these exams saying that any further delay in conducting the tests would result in waste of precious years for students.
The letter has been signed by professors from Delhi University, IGNOU, Lucknow University, BHU, IIT Delhi, University of London, University of California, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University, Israel, among others.
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