Covid-19: Odisha CM urges Centre to take steps to postpone JEE, NEET exams

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik urged the Centre to take steps for postponing the JEE (Main) and NEET as it will be unsafe for students to physically appear in the exams amid the pandemic

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen

Patnaik on Tuesday urged the Centre to take steps for postponing the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) as it will be unsafe for students to physically appear in the exams in view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has scheduled to conduct the medical and engineering entrance exams - NEET and JEE (Main) - in September.

In a letter to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the chief minister said, there are over 50,000 aspirants from Odisha for the NEET and JEE (Main) this year.

"However, the NTA has opened examination centres for the said tests in only seven townships of the state," he said.

In view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic in the country, it would be perilous for the students to visit the test centres physically to appear in the tests, Patnaik said.

"Besides, as frequent lockdowns are being enforced by the district administrations due to sudden rise of COVID-19 cases locally, local transportation too gets disrupted," he said.

Odisha has vast tribal pockets far away from urban centres of the state. Students of these areas may be deprived of appearing in these tests as they will have to travel long distances to come to the examination centres, Patnaik said in his letter, which was released to the media.

"In view of the above, it is requested that the ensuing JEE (Main) and NEET examinations scheduled to be held in the first fortnight of September, 2020 may be postponed to a later date to ensure the safety and security of the students," the chief minister said.

Besides, whenever NTA holds these tests, it may be directed to open centres in all the 30 districts of the state so that students have to travel maximum 2-3 hours to reach the examination venues and go back home the same day to ensure maximum participation of the students in these exams, Patnaik added.