NEET UG 2021 to be held on Sept 12, application process to start on Tuesday

Medical entrance exam NEET, which was earlier scheduled for August 1, will now be conducted on September 12, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced Monday.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2021 exam will be conducted across the country on September 12 following the Covid-19 protocols. The application process for NEET (UG) 2021 will start from 5 p.m. on Tuesday through the website(s) of the NTA, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

Pradhan said that during the NEET exam on September 12, all the rules to prevent Covid will be followed.

He said, "To ensure social distancing, the number of cities where the examination will be conducted has been increased from 155 to 198. The number of examination centres will also be increased from 3,862 centres used in 2020."

To ensure adherence to Covid protocols in NEET (UG) 2021 examination, face masks will be provided to all candidates at the examination centres. Time slots during entry and exit, contactless registration, proper sanitization, seating with social distancing etc will also be ensured.

In view of the current Covid situation, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has made a complete plan for the conduct of this examination. The Union Health Ministry has also been consulted in this regard.

Some students want more chances in NEET as well. But NEET (UG) exam will be conducted only once. As per a specific procedure, the Ministry of Education will conduct the NEET eligibility cum entrance test only once.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) under the Ministry of Education, in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, conducts the eligibility cum entrance test 'NEET' for undergraduate programme in Medical Sciences.

The NEET exam will be conducted for admission to various medical colleges under the new National Education Policy.

Last year, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was conducted on September 13 amid strict precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 13.66 lakh candidates had appeared in the exam of whom 7,71,500 qualified.

From the last year, the admissions to MBBS course in 13 All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, are also being made through NEET following the amendment in National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

The test will be offered in 11 languages -- English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.