National Testing Agency urged states to help students reach exam centers easily (representation)
New Delhi:
The National Testing Agency, which organizes the main entrance exams in the country, has called on all states to help applicants for engineering and medical tests move freely to examination centers in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. The Union Health Secretary, in a letter to all states, asked them to order magistrates in their district to facilitate travel between districts so that students can reach their exam centers without encountering of problem.
Some states, particularly those led by the opposition, have asked the center to defer holding the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility Test (NEET) amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In an online meeting of chief ministers today, which was also attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the “burden” of the advancing JEE and NEET “would end up falling on our heads.” Several states are working cautiously to get life back to normal after the coronavirus lockdown and are monitoring factors that could lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The latest NTA directive places the onus on states to ensure that exams run smoothly.
After the admission cards were published, the NTA received requests to postpone these exams. The agency also received a large number of requests not to postpone these exams. Both groups of students gave reasons that were personally applicable to them. In this scenario, NTA sees no reason not to proceed with the exams and in the interest of the students and the country, it has decided to hold entrance exams in September, ”NTA said. in a press release.
He said the attempt was “to save an academic year”. The country is set to enter the fourth unlock phase (Unlock 4) from September 1, 2020, and a lot of activities have opened. The academic calendar of the current year 2020-2021 was also negatively affected, as in the absence of entrance exams admissions to the first semester of undergraduate courses in engineering and medicine could not take place. until now. This had a negative impact on the academic careers of the students, ”the NTA said.
The NTA said that if entrance exams were postponed further, they would put students in government colleges at a disadvantage over private college students who do not need to take the competitions and who have already started an online module.
The NTA’s reasoning is that some 24 lakh applicants are scheduled to appear in JEE and NEET and losing an academic year for them will put pressure on the system next year to accommodate two years in one sitting.
Earlier today, senior ministers from seven states agreed it was necessary to take the center’s decision to conduct reviews amid the pandemic to the Supreme Court.
The Chief Minister of the Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, has asked the state attorney general to speak to his counterparts in other states and draw up an appeal plan to the superior court.
The NTA was established in 2017 as an autonomous body responsible for conducting entrance examinations for admissions and scholarships to higher education institutions. It is headed by a governing body whose chairman is Mr. S. Ananth, former director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
