Students across India started a social media campaign demanding postponement of the engineering and medical entrance exams. The Joint Entrance Examination Main, or JEE Main 2020, is scheduled to be held from September 1 to September 6, 2020 while the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate, or NEET 2020, is scheduled on September 13. For the campaign, students are using the hashtags #PostponeJEE_NEETSept and #PostponeJEE_NEETinCovid.

Sandeep Saurav, National General Secretary of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) said, “Exams in any form are a threat during this Covid-19 outbreak. We reject (the) discriminatory mode of education in toto.”

The HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” in many instances said that the priority of the government is the health and safety of students.

“With India crossing 16 lakh benchmark in corona cases, the government wants to conduct exams instead of trying to put a full stop to the pandemic. Stop putting a question mark about students safety and start working in the best interest of students,” said Anulekha Boosa, National Secretary of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).

Meanwhile, a group of 31 students have filed a petition against the UGC on its decision to conduct final year exams by September end. The plea also seeks directions to the UGC to adopt a CBSE model and conduct an examination at a later date for the students who are not satisifed with the marks awarded on the basis of assessment.

The Supreme Court today, July 31, refused to pass an interim order on the pleas. During the July 30 hearing, the UGC remained adamant on its decision of not cancelling the final year exams, asking all universities of conducting final year exams by September end. It added that the revised guidelines of July 6 will offer sufficient flexibility and are intended to protect the academic future of students.

Source: NDTV