NTA on Tuesday stated that “in view of the academic interest of the students, these exams are now scheduled to be held as scheduled – JEE (main) from September 1 to 6, 2020 and NEET (UG) on September 13, 2020.” The Agency’s statement said that “The Hon’ble Supreme Court has also, inter alia, ordered that ‘We find that there is absolutely no justification in the prayer made for postponement of the examination in question relating to NEET UG-2020 as well as JEE (Main) April 2020.”
According to Vineet Joshi, “As of 5 pm August 25 around 85% of the JEE (main) candidates have downloaded the admit cards and of those 320 has requested for change of cities. The admit cards of NEET (UG) 2020 will also be released shortly and the NTA has ensured that more than 99% of candidates get their first choice of centre cities in both of these examinations.”
For JEE (main) the agency has added 90 new centres bringing down the average number of candidates per centre to 1,445 from that of 1,871 in JEE (main) January cycle. Overall there will be 660 centres for the September exams.
Similarly, for the NEET-UG the average number of candidates per centre came down to 416 from that of 597 in 2019. The number of centres have been increased to 3842 from that of 2546.
State-wise Maharashtra has the largest (1,10,313) number of candidates followed by Uttar Pradesh (1,00,706) and Andhra Pradesh with 82,748 for JEE (main).
“The number of examination centres have also been increased. Additionally, in case of JEE (main), the number of shifts has been increased from the earlier eight to 12, and the number of candidates per shift has been reduced from earlier 1.32 lakh to 85,000 now,” added Joshi.
V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT-Delhi too took to social media where he stated that any further delay in these entrance tests will have “serious repercussions”, not just on the academic calendar of the engineering and medical colleges but also on the career of “many bright students”.
In a Facebook post, he has appealed to “trust the institutions” and take the entrance tests while “strictly” following the COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Reassuring the parents of the safety of the candidates, Rao said that both NTA and the union education ministry are in touch with the State governments for taking care of the transport requirements.
“It will become a zero academic year for lakhs of students (if exams are not held). Let’s not be deterred by Covid. Let’s become responsible and let’s all do our best by adjusting to this new normal. Covid can stay, careers can’t wait. We cannot be perpetually in lockdown mode. Covid is not going to go away for another six months to one year,” said Rao.
“I don’t see any reason for concern. As if Covid-19 is not enough, this uncertainty about exam dates is further adding to the stress levels of students. I am happy that the government (has) reaffirmed the examination dates,” he added.
Nearly 2 lakh top JEE (main) scorers would be eligible for the JEE (advanced), scheduled to be held on September 27, for admission in the IITs.
“As the JEE (advanced) organising Institute, I assure everyone that IITs will do their best and put their best foot forward in organizing the JEE Advanced examination,” said Rao.
He also said that all preparations for the exams have already been done. “Health of the candidates is of utmost concern to all of us. We all have children and we can connect with the parents of candidates. We will be closely monitoring the situation and taking the necessary steps as necessary.”
Taking a critical view of the TV debates on the demands for postponement of the JEE and NEET exams, Rao said: “Also, the debates have become polarized on party lines. So I am deciding to stay away from them. I feel sad for those serious students preparing for these examinations. I did receive a large number of emails from them.”
