Coronavirus: NEET, JEE Main exams 2020 not to be postponed; to be held on dates announced, says NTA
Amid the growing demand for postponement of NEET, JEE exams 2020, National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday confirmed that the exams will take place on the dates announced earlier.
FollowNew Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) issued a press release on Tuesday stating that NEET(UG) and JEE(Main) exams will be held on the dates as announced before.
NEET 2020 is scheduled for September 13 while the JEE Mains is to be held between September 1 to September 6. Both of these exams have been postponed a number of times due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The press release refers to the Supreme Court's order which dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the exams amid COVID-19 by stating "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)".
NTA in its statement also confirmed that the NEET UG exam 2020 admit cards will be released shortly. The agency had already released the JEE Main 2020 admit card on August 17.
"In order to meet the social distancing requirements, there has been a substantial increase in the number of centres. The number of examination centres have been increased from 570 to 660 (in case of JEE Main) and 2546 to 3843 (in case of NEET (UG) 2020)," the statement read.
Meanwhile, a total of 15,97,433 candidates had registered for the NEET 2020 examination this year. The agency will soon release the admit cards.
The NTA has made elaborate arrangements to sanitize the centers before and after the conduct of the examinations, give fresh masks and hand gloves (as per request). The NTA has also prepared a comprehensive Advisory regarding COVID-19 for All functionaries for center management.
Many people have raised their voice seeking postponement of JEE, NEET exams 2020, including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, BSP Supremo Mayawati, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, climate activist Greta Thunberg among others.
