NEET/JEE: Over 17 lakh downloads of Admit Card shows students willingness to give exam, says education minister

NEET, JEE: Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal today defended the choice of the government to lead NEET and JEE amidst the coronavirus pandemic, saying a silent majority of students needs the exams to be held.

He said, “The NTA DG disclosed to me 7.5 lakh out of 8.58 lakh competitors in JEE have downloaded their admit cards. For NEET, more than 10 lakh out of 15.97 lakh have downloaded their admit cards in 24 hours. It shows that students need that tests are held at any cost,”. 

A day after resistance groups slammed the Centre’s choice to hold NEET and JEE in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, a call that has seen students the nation over in arms, the Congress has chosen to hold cross country challenges the government’s move in solidarity with the applicants who have expressed worry over absence of transportation and inescapable swarming if the exams are not postponed. 

Supporting the interest for delay of NEET and JEE examinations considering the coronavirus pandemic, seven chief ministers of non-BJP controlled states on Wednesday chose to mutually move the Supreme Court on the issue. Parties like the DMK and AAP also joined the developing chorus against the holding of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) when COVID-19 cases were rising the nation over. Batting for the students who are requesting deferment of the exams due to COVID-19, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked the centralgovernment to listen in to their complaints and locate aamicable solution. 

The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) will be led in September as scheduled, the Ministry of Education authorities had said on Tuesday. The Supreme Court had a week ago excused a request looking for delay of the two tests, saying a “valuable” academic year of students “can’t be squandered” and life needs to go on. While a sum of 9.53 lakh applicants have enrolled for JEE-Mains, 15.97 lakh students have enlisted for NEET. The NEET is to be hung on September 13 and designing selection test JEE Main is scheduled from September 1-6.