COVID-19: JEE-Main likely to be held in May last week, says HRD Ministry

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission in engineering colleges, which has been postponed due to coronavirus situation, is likely to be held in the last week of May, the HRD Ministry's National Testing Agency (NTA) announced Tuesday.

"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," the HRD Ministry said in a statement.

The JEE-Main, which is also a preliminary test for admission to IITs and NITs, was earlier scheduled to be held from April 5-11, but was postponed in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

"We hope that normalcy will be restored relatively soon but for now, NTA is closely monitoring the scenario to evaluate if the situation may necessitate any change in the schedule. Accordingly, the Admit Cards for the Examination will now be issued after April 15 based on the situation at that time," the statement further said.

The death toll due to COVID-19 pandemic has risen to 32 and the number of total positive cases to 1,251 as on Monday 9.30 PM, up from 1,024 positive cases and 27 deaths as on Sunday evening, the health ministry said.