Rahul Gandhi says "Speak up for students’ safety", calls people to join movement against JEE, NEET
Several opposition parties including Congress have questioned the decision of conducting the exams despite the coronavirus pandemic and floods in various parts of the country.
Rahul Gandhi has launched a movement for safety of students, and urged people to raise their voice against the Centre’s decision to hold the Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) next month.
Even after the leader’s demand to postpone the exams, the Centre has made clear that the exams will be held as per schedule with due precautions.
“Unite your voice with lakhs of suffering students. #SpeakUpForStudentSafety from 10am onwards. Let’s make the Govt listen to the students,” Gandhi tweeted.
He also tagged a video about the people’s movement, talking about the issues students are going to face if the entrance exams for admission to engineering and medical colleges across the country are held.
The video’s voice over said, “The government is putting the students’ health at risk by conducting the NEET, JEE exams amid pandemic. Students have been stressed out. During such time, the Congress stands with the students and we are speaking up for their safety,”
The officials of the ministry of education said, “The JEE Main and NEET-UG will be conducted in September as scheduled.”
“National Testing Agency (NTA) officials told me that over seven lakh candidates have downloaded the JEE-Main admit cards while over 10 lakh aspirants have downloaded the NEET admit cards. This shows that the students want the exams to be held at any cost,” Union education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal said.
“We have received mails from students and parents who are in favour of holding the exams, as they have been preparing for the exams for at least two to three years. The Supreme Court too opined that a full academic year cannot be wasted. After two deferments, the exam dates have been finalised,” he added.
The Supreme Court last week dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the two exams amid a spurt in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, saying a “precious” academic year of students “cannot be wasted” and that life has to go on.
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While the JEE Main is scheduled from September 1-6, NEET is planned on September 13. Around 8.58 lakh candidates have registered for JEE-Main and 15.97 lakh have registered for NEET.
-PTC News
