Should JEE Main or NEET 2020 be postponed ?

JEE Main or NEET 2020

By: Student Group (JEE & NEET)

Through this grievance, I would draw the very kind attention of the concerned authorities towards the conduct of the JEE MAIN exam and NEET (UG) in the month of September 2020. The said examinations are to be conducted by NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY on 13th September 2020 for NEET and in between 1st September and 6th September for JEE MAIN.

Conducting JEE or NEET exams at this time is not feasible and we pray for postponement and also, I am putting down the reasons for this demand:

Rising Coronavirus Cases in the nation:

The country is currently entering into the Community Transmission stage of the virus. The nation has been adding at least 60,000 cases on a daily basis and the number of new deaths is also hiking in the nation. WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION has warned that the coronavirus is digging deep into the 17-24 age groups and has mentioned them in the vulnerable group. Due to peaking numbers, a lot many schools are being constantly turning into COVID CARE CENTRES which makes it logically impossible to conduct a National Level Exam with safety there. Also, the safety of students is being compromised by the conducting authorities. The virus is now more into RURAL INDIA where awareness levels are comparatively lower and a large mass of students ply from these places to the exam centres in major cities increasing the risk for everyone involved

Transportation:

To the dismay of students and parents, RAILWAYS is currently running only RAJDHANI, SHATABDI and some major EXPRESS TRAINS with limited and reduced stoppages. Also, buses are plying between major towns only. JEE and NEET, is not merely an exam, it is a dream, a dream that is especially seen in rural India, with no access to trains and buses, you deprive rural India of these exams adding to stress levels and depression. Also, RAJDHANI and SHATABDIS are not the trains for a common man. Not everyone owns a vehicle and also, private taxis are charging twice or thrice the normal fare which is expected to rise to 5 or 6 times during the EXAM+COVID times. Due to prevailing rains, flights are also mostly cancelled or delayed and most importantly, we don’t have airports in every village or tier-III cities.

Accommodation:  

People travelling from distant towns to the exam centres have to book hotels, hostels etc. to at least spend a day in the exam centre city to board back their return bus or train. Hotels have not opened up in many places due to prevailing conditions and lockdowns being imposed. Also, a normal candidate cannot afford to live in RADISSON OR MARRIOTT, he or she will live in a mid or low ranged hotel which cannot ensure the level of sanitation as expected. This would put other candidates at exam halls and other people also at risk of the virus.

Flood Situations:  

Many states like Bihar, North Eastern States, Assam, and Southern states are not just battling the pandemic but also tackling the prevalent flood situations in their states. Bihar has more than 50 lakh people displaced by the floods. Landslides, damages to roads, bridges and houses are very common during rains. These adverse conditions will force many students to leave the exam or battle these extremities to battle the ENTRANCES which can be easily postponed by the concerned authorities.

No of Exam Centre Cities: 

It is disheartening to check that the state with the largest population density and entrance aspirants, Bihar, has just 2 cities in which the exams will be conducted. This means that a large chunk of students and their parents will overflow from their respective cities to the exam centres adding load on the Bihar Health Care system and transport system all to the dismay of the aspirants. Large states like Rajasthan with a humongous rural population have centres in just 4-5 major cities. Increasing the number of centres requires increasing COMPUTERS or other infra required which is technically impossible in these adverse times.

International Students: 

JEE and NEET is not just a dream for lakhs of Indians but also for many Indians residing abroad. The governments and agencies in these foreign nations have refused the proposal to have exam centres in their nations as a precautionary measure to curb the virus spread. A lot of students are from the GULF NATIONS and a mandatory quarantine is in place for people arriving by VANDE BHARAT MISSION. No scheduled flights are taking place and Kerala which is considered as a GATEWAY TO INDIA for the gulf people is suffering adversely from Rains. The flight crash at KOZHIKODE creates a constant trauma in the minds of the evacuees and I doubt that they would be able to write these prestigious exams with having such traumatic incidents in mind. Also, Vande Bharat mission has a lot of people to evacuate and some students might really not be able to make it to India due to no seats on Flights.

States’ willingness to conduct exams: 

Despite the wish of the erstwhile HRD MINISTRY to conduct exams, states like BIHAR have cancelled their own compartment exams due to their non-surety of safe conduct of exams. Compartment exams are conducted in every district and then to state is unable, how will they be able to manage an exam with just 2 cities. Maharashtra, key Southern states have also expressed their inability to conduct exams. Delhi University also cannot ensure offline exams.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES ARE INEFFECTIVE: 

Many states conducted exams like KCET in Karnataka, KEAMCET in Kerala, IIIT-UGEE etc. and these exams have repeatedly proved to be catastrophic. No Social DISTANCING in place and all the rules being broken in front of media cameras and police and exam centre officials also supporting the flouting of SOPs. If you reply that SOPs are effective, you need to get a reality check. For your ambitions of getting over with exams, you have not been granted permission to play with the lives of the future of the nation. More than 5 students have tested positive after appearing for KEAMCET and dozens in Karnataka. Also, Rajasthan Board exams were a failure too.

VIPs testing positive:  

Students are not corona proof. This point has been proved by many very important people. These people live in highly sanitised environments and have a stricter SOP then what the aspirants will have. Our Home Minister Amit Shah, Cabinet Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Arjun Meghwal, Chief Ministers, BS YEDIYURAPPA, Shivraj Chouhan etc. all tested positive for the virus. A cabinet minister of Uttar Pradesh succumbed to it. Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan remained in the hospital for about 24-25 days. They are important people; they get tested and get admitted in high-end private hospitals, what about an aspirant or parent? Firstly, no one would test them, if tested and positive, all beds full, if they got a bed, they would be served with a bill of 5-6 lakhs in private hospitals. This is a report from GROUND ZERO.

Mental Anxiety, Trauma, Guilt and Depression: If in case a student is tested positive or a parent is positive due to NTA’s negligence, the parent or student would not be able to forgive themselves ever. Our lives are just numbers for the government, interview people who lost their loved ones; they will tell what kind of anxiety or depression they feel. With every tear, they will be cursing the conducting authorities and the government. For those saying that postponement will put their 3 years of hard work in vain, I regret to inform you that when you lose a dear one, that 3 years will seem to be a mere waste to you. If you are so well prepared, prepare for 2 months more, there is no harm.

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Who will be held responsible:

If any mishap takes place, during or after the examination, who will be held responsible, exam centre staff or police? No one from them, as they were following your SOPs. We demand that the HRD MINISTER, Dr Ramesh Pokhariyal must resign if any mishap takes place and also, the top NTA officials must be tried in court with a charge of murder on them.

POSTPONEMENT OF CLAT: 

CLAT EXAM is a nationwide exam and also, it was postponed. It has just 77000 aspirants and 204 centres. Just get the number of JEE MAIN and NEET checked.

JEE ADVANCED:

JEE Advanced will be conducted 21 days after the JEE MAIN paper but if a student tests positive, it would be nearly difficult or impossible to write this exam in such harsh conditions. You will be charged for ruining their careers also. It is in the interest of all to postpone the exams until there is some normalcy

Also Read : Points for NTA REVIEW meeting for POSTPONEMENT of JEE MAINS and NEET

Students’ lives matter