BJP's attitude towards students devoid of humanity: Akhilesh on JEE, NEET

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav targeted the BJP over the holding of the JEE and NEET exams amid Covid-19, saying the party's attitude towards students is "devoid of humanity"

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday targeted the BJP over the holding of the JEE and NEET exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the party's attitude towards students is "devoid of humanity".

This comes a day after Samajwadi Party (SP) workers staged a protest outside the Raj Bhawan here over the issue.

"Adamant on conducting JEE and NEET examinations, BJP has now clarified why it has changed the name of the Ministry of Human Resources. It is because its attitude towards education and students is devoid of humanity," the former chief minister said in tweet in Hindi, and tagged pictures of the protest by his partymen in the state capital on Thursday.

Workers of SP's student wing reached the Raj Bhawan on Thursday afternoon and raised anti-government slogans for organising NEET and JEE amid the pandemic at considerable risks to students. Police resorted to lathi-charge to control the protesters.

The central government, while approving the new education policy recently, renamed the Ministry of Human Resources Development as the Ministry of Education.

On Thursday, Yadav wrote an open letter opposing the central government's decision to hold the NEET and the JEE amid the pandemic.

He alleged that the BJP-led government at the Centre was unnecessarily putting students' health at risk.

While the NEET is scheduled to be held on September 13, engineering entrance exam JEE-Main has been planned from September 1-6. Around 8.58 lakh candidates have registered for JEE-Main and 15.97 lakh have registered for the NEET.