Chorus grows for postponing NEET, JEE; Greta Thunberg tweets support

Noted climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday (August 25) called it “deeply unfair” the holding of medical and engineering entrance examinations in the midst of pandemic and floods, in a tweet supporting the demand for the postponement of NEET and JEE.

It’s deeply unfair that students of India are asked to sit national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to #PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) August 25, 2020

“It’s deeply unfair that students of India are asked to sit national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to #PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID,” tweeted Greta, 17, a leading voice for action on climate change. She was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019.

Of late, the chorus for the postponement of JEE and NEET exams had been growing in the country, with several chief ministers and political leaders writing to the central government in this regard.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is the latest to write to the Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, saying it would be unsafe for the students to visit test centres physically amidst the pandemic.

“It would be unsafe for students to visit test centres physically amid #COVID19 for JEE (Main) & NEET tests. Therefore, it is requested that exams scheduled to be held in September may be postponed to a later date,” read his letter.

A day earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged Prime Minister Narendra to postpone the exams due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation, saying lives of students should not be put at risk by taking such “unilateral and bureaucratic decisions.”

Related news: NEET and JEE exams: A timeline of what happened and where we stand

“I…appeal to you to kindly get the enormous health risk involved in such steps assessed. The central government must not make a decision by which the students feel upset and also ensure that students are not deprived of the opportunity to take the examination,” she said in her letter to the prime minister.

“I am sure that you will appreciate the point and postpone the examinations until the situation is conducive. It is our duty as elders to ensure a safe public environment for all our students in the country,” Chief Minister Banerjee wrote.

DMK president MK Stalin has also urged Education Minister Pokhriyal to postpone the exam dates until the virus spread is brought under control. He said that considering the current restrictions on public transportation, the allotted exam centres are not uniformly accessible to all 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.

Related news: SC tells Centre to take NEET candidates in Vande Bharat flights

Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray has also written to Prime Minister Modi, seeking postponement of university-level examinations as well as those of professional courses in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Sunday, over 4,000 students observed a day-long hunger strike at their respective homes to press for the demand of postponing the JEE and NEET exams.

The JEE (Main) is scheduled to be held between September 1 and 6, while JEE (Advanced) is to be held on September 27. The NEET will be held on September 13.

Around 25 lakh students are expected to sit for this year’s NEET and JEE. 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 for the same.”