By Asmita Kundu
In light of the extended lockdown till May 3, 2020, all the entrance examinations have been postponed as per the previous notification issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. But as per the latest interview with The Indian Express, the MHRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said that the second JEE Main and NEET exams are likely to be held in June.
No official dates for the JEE Main April and NEET exam have been finalised yet. However, a lot of reports suggested that the exams will take place in the second or third week of June this year.
These exams were supposed to be held in April and May respectively. But due to the recent outbreak of coronavirus globally, the exam dates had to be postponed by the responsible authority National Testing Agency (NTA).
The postponement notice stated: "... it is further notified that as of now the examination is proposed to be held in the last week of May 2020. Exact date will be announced after assessing the situation in the coming weeks.”
However, this also seemed impossible upon the notification of the second lockdown which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, 2020.
Meanwhile, NTA has reopened the deadline of the correction window for JEE Main April application form. So, the students who have applied in the JEE Main April 2020 application form will be eligible to make corrections in their application form if there is any mistake till May 3, 2020.
According to a PTI report, "According to Human Resource Development Ministry officials, competitive exams, including the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), are likely to be conducted in June end but no decision has been taken in this regard yet.”
MHRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal further told the Indian Express that the authority is in talks with all the stakeholders such as NTA, IITs, School Boards, other agencies etc. who are involved in the logistics operations before deciding the new dates of the exams.
However, the question still remains about the JEE Advanced exam whether it will be conducted or not. There is a report which is making rounds for while suggesting that the JEE Advanced exam might not be held this year. Instead, the IIT admission will be done on the basis of the JEE Main exam this year.
On the other hand, the semester exam in the universities and colleges are put on hold as well due to tot lockdown. According to the minister, a special committee has been set up to look after all the exam-related issues and the new academic calendar as well. The new academic session for all the colleges and universities will definitely be delayed this year because of the pandemic.
