Postpone JEE Main, NEET 2020: Mamata writes to PM Modi

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Banerjee also expressed her disregard for the UGC guidelines to conduct the term-end exams in September. “This decision had a huge potential to put students’ lives at risk. We should not put any lives in jeopardy during this pandemic period by taking such unilateral, bureaucratic decisions,” the West Bengal CM wrote in her letter to Modi. Mamata has also tweeted the letter.

Now with the directive of @EduMinOfIndia to conduct NEET, JEE 2020 in Sep, I would again appeal to the Centre to assess the risk and postpone these examinations until the situation is conducive again. It is our duty to ensure a safe environment for all our students. (2/2)

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 24, 2020

In our last video conference with the Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, I had been vocal against the UGC guidelines mandating completion of terminal examinations in Universities/Colleges by the end of September 2020, which had a huge potential to put student lives at risk. (1/2)

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 24, 2020

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his tweet on Sunday said the central government must listen to ‘students’ ke mann ki baat’ and arrive at an acceptable solution. On Twitter, several politicians have joined the debate under the trending hashtags #SATYAGRAH_AgainstExamsInCovid and #StudentsKeMannKiBaat.

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Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA) earlier announced that the entrance exam will be held as per schedule following the Supreme Court order. The admit card of the JEE Main exam has already been released.

Over 9 lakh had applied to appear for JEE Main while nearly 16 lakh registered for NEET. The number of exam centres, claims NTA, have also been increased by almost double to ensure the safety of students.