NSUI requests PM Modi to postpone JEE and NEET exams & promote final year students

On Friday, Congress' student wing National Students' Union of India urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the final year exam and postpone the NEET and JEE. Writing to the PM, NSUI president Neeraj Kundan contended that the lives of lakhs of students scheduled to give final year and entrance exams were at stake owing to the COVID-19 crisis. He added that there was a threat to the people accompanying the candidates to the exam centres as well. Recalling the novel coronavirus cases detected during the conduct of exams in Karnataka, he predicted that a "man-made disaster" is on the cards if social distancing is not maintained.

Moreover, the NSUI president questioned the fate of COVID-19 positive students, who will be unable to appear for exams. He suggested that final year students should be promoted on the basis of previous performance. While the JEE Main examination will be held between September 1 to 6, the JEE Advanced exam shall take place on September 27. On the other hand, the NEET examination is scheduled for September 13. Meanwhile, the governments of Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Odisha have opposed holding final year exams. 

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NSUI president cites difficulties

In his letter, Kundan highlighted the difficulty faced by the students in travelling to the examination centres because of the suspension of regular train services. He also pointed out that states such as Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana recently experienced floods. Claiming that some states would face the full wrath of COVID-19 in mid-September, the NSUI president opined that conducting exams at such a juncture shall only add to the miseries of students. Kundan called upon PM Modi to keep the safety of students as a paramount concern. 

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COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 29,05,823 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 21,58,946 patients have recovered while 54,849 fatalities have been reported. With 62,282 COVID-19 patients getting cured in the last 24 hours, the country registered the single-highest one-day spike of recoveries. The recovery rate stands at 74.28%.

Furthermore, the difference between the recovered and active cases has soared to 14,66,918. Meanwhile, the case fatality rate remains constant at 1.89%. After 8,05,985 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the number of tests done in India has increased to  3,34,67,237. The number of COVID-19 testing labs rose to 1504 including 978 labs in the government sector and 526 private labs. 

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