JEE & NEET aspirants across the, India’s continue to protest on social media & demanding the postponement of exams 

NewDelhi/Kota: JEE and NEET aspirant protest As the dates for the NEET and JEE exams come closer, students across India are protesting – fasting, wearing black bands and expressing outrage on social media outrage. Apart from the COVID-19 threat, students coming from flood-hit states such as Bihar, Gujarat and Assam, those from rain-hit districts in Kerala and those from Jammu and Kashmir where internet restrictions continue will have difficulty commuting to exam centres, as transport options are limited.

 

Kota Thousands of Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main and the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants at Rajasthan’s Kota, India’s biggest coaching hub, continue to protest on social media with videos demanding the postponement of exams till the coronavirus pandemic shows a decline in numbers.

 

After the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exams, clarified that the JEE and NEET will take place as scheduled, students, as well as the coaching institutes in Kota, have registered their disagreement. They called the move to conduct the exams, meant for admissions to engineering and medical colleges, “insensitive.”

 

“I still remember those restless two weeks in April when hundreds of students like me wanted to go back to their hometown in Uttar Pradesh in the middle of the pandemic. And finally, we left Kota in buses. But most of us had to return to Kota fearing that exams might be slated any day and we had opted for Kota as the test centre,” said  18-year-old NEET aspirant Mohit Singh,  Ranjit Singh Rajput. and Abhishek Mishra “But thousands of our batchmates who studied here with us in the coaching centre are unable to reach their centres. And especially with the rise in deaths due to the Corona virus, it’s scary to take exams right now”, Ranjit and Abhishek, who hails from Uttar Pradesh and is presently in Kota, told media,

 

Most of the students who underwent coaching from Kota institutes are also protesting on social media and posting their videos on Facebook, instagram and Twitter against the arrangements done by the Narendra Modi led NDA  Government.

 

“Not every city has an exam centre. Students along with their parents will have to move to another city for the examination centre. Also, how can they ensure the social distancing aspect? Moreover, it’s inhumane to appear for exams with masks on for three hours,” another NEET aspirant Jaya and Mansi Gupta, who is presently stuck in Kota, told “Unlike JEE, the NEET exam requires pen and paper, which again is a threat of spreading of this deadly Corona virus”, she said.

 

Ms Jaya’s concerns, JEE aspirant Manas Kumar and Manisha said, “What about those students whose family members have contracted Covid and are in quarantine? How will they appear for exams? The examination authorities have been insensitive all this while. There will be movement of lakhs of students as well as their parents which will lead to more Covid 19 cases.”

 

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has reiterated its commitment to go ahead with the exams next month. by agency.