Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has defended the Centre’s move to move forward with conducting All-India exams for engineering and medical courses amid a coronavirus epidemic as a result of “constant pressure from parents and students”.
NEET and JEE
The Joint Entrance Test (JEE) for admission to the Indian Institute of Technology and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses are scheduled to be held next month.
In an interview with government broadcaster DD News, Mr. Nishank said that 80 percent of the students who will be appearing for JEE have already downloaded the admit card.
“We are under constant pressure from parents and students, asking why we are not allowing JEE and NEET. The students were very worried. Thinking in their mind how long they would continue studying?” ” Education Minister told DD News
Nishank said, “Out of 8.58 lakh students registered for JEE, 7.25 lakh candidates have downloaded their admit cards … We are with the students. They should be protected first, then their education.”
On reopening the schools, Mr. Nishank said that the decision would be taken based on the guidelines given by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Health.
To reduce at-risk coronavirus infections, students applying for JEE and NEET must wear masks and hand gloves and carry an individual water bottle and hand sanitizer at the examination center.
Admission to the examination centers will be staggered and students will have to clear a thermal scan to gain admission. Each examination center will have an isolation room for those whose body temperature is high, indicating a possible fever.
Some parents, students, and experts working in the field of education have, however, raised concerns over conducting exams when coronavirus cases are increasing in India. Climate activist Greta Thunberg, in a tweet, supported the call to postpone the exam.
Politicians in the parties have supported the demand to postpone the examination, stating that the move was not only unsafe due to COVID-19, but due to flooding in some states like Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, and Karnataka Was also unjust. , among others.
The Health Ministry has said that the latest increase of 60,975 new infections recorded in the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning took India’s coronavirus to 31,67,323. The number of people involved in the epidemic increased to 58,390.
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