SC dismisses plea seeking postponement of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and Joint Entrance Examination

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Supreme Court (SC) on Monday (August 17) dismissed a plea seeking the postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), scheduled to be held in September 2020.

“There is no ground to interfere with policy decision. The postponement of the NEET/JEE will put the career of students in peril”, said the SC.

On July 3, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ had announced the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Mains) will be conducted from September 1 to 6. The minister had also said that the JEE-Advanced examination has been postponed to September 27 in view of the COVID-19 situation in the country.

“Keeping in mind the safety of students and to ensure quality education, we’ve decided to postpone JEE and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examinations. JEE Main exam will be held between 1st-6th Sept, JEE advanced exam will be held on 27th Sept and NEET exam will be held on 13th September,” the Union HRD Minister said in a tweet.

Notably, educational activities and all major entrance examinations had been pushed to either a later date or the dates are yet to be announced due to coronavirus pandemic.

NEET is a medical entrance exam that was to be conducted on July 26 while JEE – an engineering entrance exam – was to be conducted from 18-23 July. Tens of thousands of students take the tests that the National Testing Agency conducts.

Parents have raised concerns over the increasing pressure on the students, without any solid statement by the authorities. A group of parents has also written to National Testing Agency (NTA) urging them to conduct exams as per schedule. In the letter, parents have urged the NTA to conduct the exams as per schedule as the students have been preparing for over two years for the entrance exams.

After the cancellation of the CBSE examinations of the 10th and 12 standards, the Union Human Resource Development authorities have urged the NTA to re-look into the academic calendar of JEE and NEET.