The National Testing Agency on August 22 announced that the
entrance examinations for medical and engineering undergraduate courses, the
National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance
Examination (JEE), will be conducted as scheduled in September.

The Supreme Court also dismissed a petition seeking the
postponement of the two exams and said that “life has to go on”, despite the
pandemic, and a “full academic year cannot be wasted”.

Ever since the announcement, students, parents and some
political leaders have expressed their concerns due to the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic. As many as 25 lakh students are expected to sit for the exams. Students are protesting the decision, mostly on social media. Here’s all you need to know:

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When will the JEE and NEET 2020 exams be held?

The NEET was scheduled for May 3, and the JEE for
May 17 but due to the postponement of board exams, National Testing Agency
(NTA) rescheduled the entrance exams. The CBSE later announced that the
examinations for remaining subjects for Class 12 will be held between July 1 to
July 15. NTA followed the suit and rescheduled NEET for July 26 and
JEE Main from July 18 to July 23, with proper social distancing measures.

With the situation getting worse in India, the CBSE decide to cancel the remaining exams.

After the decision, NTA once again postponed the
exams and announced the new dates for both the JEE and NEET. JEE Main has now
been scheduled to be held between September 1 and 6 and JEE (Advanced) on
September 27. The NTA decided to hold NEET on September 13.

What was the plea in the Supreme Court?

After the announcement, a plea was filed in the apex court, seeking postponement of the JEE and NEET. The Supreme Court declined the plea saying “full academic year cannot be wasted”.

What did Supreme Court say about the JEE, NEET exam?

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to pass
direction to the Centre to hold the National Eligibility Cum
Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate (UG) 2020 examination in Gulf countries.
However, the apex court asked the government to allow students to come via
Vande Bharat Mission flights to give the exams.

Why  students are demanding exams to be postponed? 

Lakhs of students who would be appearing in the JEE,  NEET exams have appealed the government to postpone the engineering, medical entrance exams citing various reasons. Apart from the health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, students say it will be difficult for them to travel and find accommodation amid the ongoing lockdown in several states. 

Who is supporting the students?

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi,
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and even
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy have asked the Centre to postpone
the exam. Swamy also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging
him to postpone NEET/JEE and other competitive examinations beyond Diwali. Odisha
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday wrote a letter to Union Education
Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, over postponing JEE (Main) and NEET exams. Expressing concern, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has also
requested the PM to postpone the exams.

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg also took to
Twitter to express discontent over Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main) and
National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) which will be held in September
amidst coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s deeply unfair that students of India are asked to
sit national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also
been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to #PostponeJEE
NeetinCOVID,” the tweet said.

The students also observed “National Protest Day” on August 21 on
Twitter. Students recorded videos and tweeted them, or posted photos of
themselves holding placards calling for the postponement of the exams.
#ProtestAgainstExamsinCovid was one of the top trends on Twitter, with over
three million tweets.