Education Minister,
Ramesh Pokhriyal on Thursday, said that students want the NEET and JEE
entrance examinations to be held, ANI reported.

“NTA DG told me that
7.5 lakhs out of 8.58 lakhs candidates in JEE have downloaded admit cards. For
NEET, over 10 lakhs out of 15.97 lakhs candidates downloaded admit cards in 24
hrs. It shows that students want that exams are held at any cost,” the minister said.

“JEE exam centres have been increased to 660 from 570 while there are now 3,842 NEET centres, up from 2,546 for the convenience of students. Students have also been allotted exam centres of their choice,” he added.

Earlier in the day, directors of several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) had said that further delay in conducting medical and engineering entrance exams NEET and JEE will lead to a ‘zero academic year’ and any quick alternative to the crucial exams will dilute the quality of education and have cascading effects. 

“The pandemic has already disrupted the academic plans of many students and institutions and we don’t see the virus going away anytime soon. We should not let this be a zero academic year as it might have consequences on the bright future of several students,” Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, told PTI.

Students have pointed out reasons such as difficulty in travelling in the absence of public transport, inability to arrange lodging since hotels and guest houses continue to remain shut and risk to already unwell students as reasons for seeking deferment of the exams.

Despite an overwhelming demand by students to cancel the exams, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has made it clear that the exams will not be postponed, and that the decision was taken amid constant pressure from the parents and students.

The medical and engineering entrance examinations JEE and NEET are planned to be  held in September.