JEE Mains, NEET UG exams on course, no change

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 21

Competitive exams JEE Mains for engineering entrance and NEET UG for undergraduate medical admissions are on course and will be held on the dates announced previously.

While Joint Entrance Exam Mains is scheduled between September 1 and 6, NEET UG will be held on September 13, government sources said.

The sources cited August 17 Supreme Court order to say that exam dates would remain unchanged.

“The Supreme Court in its August 17 order stated that it found absolutely no justification in the prayer made for postponement of the examination in question relating to NEET UG-2020 as well as JEE (Main) April, 2020. The SC said though there is a pandemic situation, life has to go and the career of the students cannot be put on peril for long and full academic year cannot be wasted,” a government source said.

So far 63,932, JEE Main candidates have requested change of centre cities due to COVID impact while 95,000 NEET candidates have requested the same.

“Admit Cards for the JEE (Main) were released by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the exam is scheduled for 1st September to 6th September 2020. Till date, out of a total of 8,58,273 candidates, 6,49,223 candidates have downloaded their admit cards,” officials said.

They said of the total candidates, 99.07 per cent have been given the first choice of their preference.

“To facilitate the candidates due to COVID-19 pandemic, NTA had provided the option to change their centre cities five times, and 63,931 candidates availed the same,” government officials said.

Similarly, in NEET (UG) the option to candidates to change their centre cities was given five times, and about 95,000 candidates availed the same.

The admit cards for NEET (UG) 2020 are scheduled to be released shortly and the exam will be held on September 13, 2020, said sources.

Out of the total of 15,97,433 candidates, 99.87 per cent are being given the first choice of their preferences of city.

Officials said elaborate arrangements have been made to sanitise the centres before and after the conduct of the examinations, give fresh masks and (on demand) hand gloves based on the comprehensive guidelines for centre management in view of COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines have been made on the lines of the Education Ministry’s standard operating procedures.