Go ahead with jee and neet as planned

Go ahead with jee and neet as planned

The government must not postpone the engineering and medical entrance examinations — Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) — due to be held next month. However, the exams should be conducted at a much larger number of centres, to allow candidates to maintain social distancing during these Covid times. The demand to postpone the exams till ‘normalcy’ is restored is not tenable.

That could well result in the loss of an academic year for students. Around 16 lakh students have registered for NEET and about 9.3 lakh students are expected to appear for JEE-Mains.

On August 17, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea for postponing the examinations. The court said delaying the examination would result in the unacceptable loss of an academic year. There is little sense in postponing the examinations.

First, there is no clear timeline for restoring ‘normalcy’ — even though vaccine development is moving at a fast pace, experts say that a mass roll-out is only likely in the first quarter of 2021. The JEE examination, usually held in April-May, had to be postponed on account of lockdown. Second, the general approach has been that life must go on and people have to learn to live with the virus. Hence, the strict adherence to preventive norms. Those arguing for postponing the examinations have been at the forefront of demanding the resumption of economic activities. They have argued for opening public places, restaurants, gyms and places of worship.

Given that the examinations must be conducted, it is incumbent on the National Testing Agency and the education ministry, in conjunction with state and local authorities, to ensure that examinations are held properly and with full regard to access and safety of the candidates.