Section of JEE, NEET aspirants in Delhi demand postponement of tests

A section of students preparing for NEET and JEE here on Wednesday demanded that the tests be postponed, saying there is a shortage of transport facilities to exam centres and cases of COVID-19 are rising.

Ankit Jakhania, who is preparing for JEE, said his main concern was the rise in coronavirus cases.

"My exam centre is on Mathura Road and I stay in Aya Nagar. The only problem is the increasing cases of COVID-19. Even though it is being said that social distancing will be ensured, a crowd is expected to gather outside the exam centre. I wear glasses. Writing an exam while wearing a head gear and a mask will be very difficult, especially in hot and humid weather conditions," he said.

An online petition has also been started to urge the Centre to postpone the NEET and the JEE exams till the year-end amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the country. Till 8.20 pm, 1,08,114 people had signed the petition.

Madhu Yadav, a JEE aspirant from Arjangarh, said the exams should be postponed at least by a couple of months so that the number of COVID-19 cases come down.

"My centre is in Gurgaon, and my family is under stress over my decision to take the exam. But there is no other alternative because the next chance will only come after six months. It is stressful to think that in some exams conducted recently, the SOP regarding coronavirus was not followed," she added.

Taniya and Srishti Kumari Mishra are sisters -- Taniya is a JEE aspirant and Srishti is preparing for NEET.

"I had dropped a year for the NEET exams, and I am so stressed whether I will be able to even take the tests this year. We do not even have a transport facility at home to reach the exam centre. It has been 15 days and we have not even been able to concentrate on our studies," Srishti said.

She did not rule out the possibility of even having to miss the exam this year.

The JEE Main and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) will be conducted in September as scheduled, officials of the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday, amid a growing chorus for postponing the crucial tests in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the JEE Main is scheduled from September 1-6, NEET is planned on September 13.

Several opposition leaders in India, including Congress' Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik and DMK president M K Stalin have demanded the exams be postponed.

The Supreme Court had last week dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the two exams, saying a "precious" academic year of students "cannot be wasted" and life has to go on.