HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank provides update on NEET-JEE exams, decision likely on Friday

As calls seeking clarification on JEE (Main) 2020 and NEET 2020 exams gather pace, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday said a committee consisting of experts, including from the National Testing Agency (NTA), has been asked to submit its recommendations latest by Friday. 

This comes after students across the country have been asking the MHRD and the NTA to clarify the ambiguity regarding holding of the two exams in July. The demand gathered further pace after the remaining CBSE and ICSE Board examinations for classes X and XII, scheduled to be held in July, were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Looking at the prevailing circumstances & requests received from students & parents appearing for #JEE & #NEET examinations, a committee consisting of @DG_NTA & other experts has been advised to review the situation & submit its recommendations to @HRDMinistry latest by tomorrow," the HRD Minister said in a tweet. 

The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for engineering courses is scheduled to be held from July 18-23 this year. They were earlier scheduled for April but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) on the other hand has been scheduled for July 26, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had said last month. NEET 2020 was earlier to be held on May 3.

Both the exams are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Together, nearly 25 lakh candidates appear in the two entrance exams. 

Last week, we had reported that students started asking questions regarding JEE and NEET by tagging Nishank after CBSE and ICSE exams were cancelled. On a tweet promoting HRD Ministry's VidyaDaan2.0 platform, the students asked clarity on the two exams in replies. 

Earlier last month, the Supreme Court was informed that the remaining CBSE and ICSE Board examinations have been cancelled due to the pandemic. The examinees of class XII students of CBSE Board will, however, have the option of either taking the exams later or to move ahead with the assessment based on their performance in the last three internal exams. The re-exam option will not be available to class X students.

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) has also cancelled the exam but re-examination option would not be available to its students. The ICSE Board has said it would broadly follow the government's decision on CBSE exams.

The CBSE class XII exams had started on February 15 and were to conclude on April 3. The class X exams had started on February 21 and were to end on March 29. 

However, schools were closed over the coronavirus on March 15 and nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the virus came into force from March 25.