Decide after speaking to students: Rahul urges govt on NEET, JEE

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday (August 28) slammed the Centre for deciding to conduct NEET and JEE amid the coronavirus pandemic. He further urged it to listen to the students over holding the medical and engineering entrance examinations, and take a decision after arriving at a consensus.

NEET-JEE aspirants’ safety should not compromised due to the failures of the Govt.

Govt must listen to all stakeholders and arrive at a consensus.#SpeakUpForStudentSafety pic.twitter.com/Y1CwfMhtHf

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 28, 2020

Tweeting a video message with the #SpeakUpForStudentSafety hashtag, the former party chief said: “NEET-JEE aspirants’ safety should not compromised due to the failures of the Govt. Govt must listen to all stakeholders and arrive at a consensus.”

His tweet comes as part of his party’s day-long campaign of holding protests and voicing opposition on social media to the holding of the entrance examinations.

“You’re the future of this country. You are the students and you are going to take this country to new heights. Everybody understands what has happened over the last three or four months. Everybody understands the mishandling of Covid…the devastation that has been caused. The economic destruction,” Gandhi said targeting the government.

“What I don’t understand is why you should be held responsible and why further pain should be imposed on you… I can clearly see that the government has been incompetent. So why should the government force anything on you? It’s important that the government listens to the students,” he said in the video message.

Related news: Students want JEE, NEET to be held at any cost: Education minister

In his “message to the Government of India”, Gandhi further said: “Please listen to them (students). Have a conversation and resolve this issue peacefully.”

While the NEET is slated to be held on September 13, engineering entrance exam JEE-Mains is scheduled between September 1-6.

Several opposition leaders have requested the Centre to postpone the exams in view of the health situation. Six ministers of opposition-ruled states on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking review of its order permitting the central government to conduct NEET and JEE this year amid the persisting pandemic.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the government cannot ignore the voices of students appearing for JEE, NEET, and those of their concerned parents.

The govt cannot ignore the voices of the students appearing for #JEE_NEET exams and those of their concerned parents. They are the future of our country.
With the rising scale of the pandemic, is it fair to expose them to infection in this manner? Are they not our children too?

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) August 28, 2020

“They are the future of our country. With the rising scale of the pandemic, is it fair to expose them to infection in this manner? Are they not our children too?” she asked in a tweet.