Naveen Urges Center To Postpone NEET and JEE (Main) Tests in View of Prevailing COVID-19 Situation

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged the Center to postpone the NEET and JEE (Main) Entrance Test in view of the prevailing COVID pandemic situation in the country.

In a letter written to the Union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Naveen wrote “More than 50,000 students from Odisha are appearing in NEET and around 40,000 in JEE (Main) this year. However, NTA has opened examination centres for the said tests in seven townships of the State only. In this context, I would like to say that in view of the prevailing COVID pandemic situation in the country, it would be highly unsafe and perilous for the students to visit the test centres physically to appear in these tests”.

He also said, “As frequent lockdown/shutdowns are being enforced by the concerned district administrations due to sudden escalation of the COVID positive case locally, the local transportation too gets disrupted”.

“In view of the above, it is requested that the ensuing JEE (Main) and NEET examination scheduled to be held in 1st fortnight of September, 2020 may be postponed to a later date to ensure the safety and security of the students”.

Naveen also urged the Union Minister to direct the authorities to open test centres in all the 30 districts of the State so that students have to travel maximum 2-3 hours to reach the test centres and go back home the same day and thus ensure maximum participation of the students in these tests.