Sisodia urges Centre to cancel JEE, NEET slated for Sept & make alternate arrangement

Delhi's Education Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday requested the Centre to cancel the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) scheduled to be held in September in view of COVID-19 crisis. 

"The Central government is playing with the lives of millions of students in the name of JEE-NEET. My request to the Centre is to cancel both these exams immediately and make an alternative arrangement for admission this year. In this time of unprecedented crisis, an unprecedented step will lead to a solution," Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

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The Deputy Chief Minister added that it is impractical to think that NEET-JEE is the only option for admission. He said that there can be thousands of safe ways instead of conducting NEET and JEE exams.

"Educational institutions around the world are adopting new methods of admission. Why can't we do so in India? Is it sensible to stake children's lives in the name of entrance examination?" he asked.

"Today in 21st century India, we cannot think of the entrance exam as the only option! It is impossible. The government should think about the interest of students. There can be thousands of safe ways instead of NEET-JEE," Sisodia added.

READ | NEET 2020 & JEE Mains: NTA Says Both Exams Will Be Conducted In September

Sanjay Singh opposes move

Earlier on Friday, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh lashed out at the Centre's move to conduct NEET and JEE (Main) in September. Taking to Twitter, he said that the Modi government has completely 'lost its relationship with the students'. He stated that this government has no idea about the difficulties that students and parents are facing. 

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced that the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main) will be held from September 1 to 6 and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) will be conducted on September 13.

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Centre's arrangement for NEET and JEE (Main)

Preparing for the JEE (Main), the National Testing Agency (NTA) has released admit cards which are scheduled for 1st September to 6th September 2020. Till date, out of a total of 8,58,273 candidates, 6,49,223 candidates have downloaded their admit cards. Out of the total candidates, 99.07% of candidates have been given the first choice of their preference and only 120 candidates have requested for a change in centre cities allotted to them, stated Centre. 

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Moreover, NTA had provided the option to candidates of JEE (Main) to change their centre cities five times, and 63931 candidates availed the same. Similarly, NTA provided the same option for NEET (UG) candidates - about 95,000 candidates availed the same, stated Centre. Out of the total of 15,97,433 candidates, 99.87 % of candidates were given the first city prefered. The Admit Cards for the NEET exam will be released shortly and the exam will be held on 13 September 2020. The Centre stated that elaborate arrangements have been made to sanitise the centres before and after the conduct of the examinations, give fresh masks and (on demand) hand gloves in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

(With inputs from agency)