NEET, JEE exam row: Ramesh Pokhriyal says decision to hold exams taken after much deliberation, admit cards to act like pass

-

Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal, on Saturday, told News18 that the Central Government has come to the decision to conduct National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) and Joint Entrance Exam (Main) after careful and due consideration.

Speaking to the news channel, Pokhriyal said: "Health of our students is the topmost priority but their education is a close second, which is why we have made every arrangement at (an exam) centre to hold exams in a safe and secure manner. You are saying exams can wait, but we all know that JEE was scheduled to be held in April but looking at the situation we pushed it back by four months. Likewise, NEET was to be held in May which is now being held in September. So we took these decisions after carefully looking at the situation."

"It is true that it has been difficult but we do not know how long will this coronavirus last. We have to learn to live with this and move forward. That is why Supreme Court is also saying that the year should not be wasted," Pokhriyal added.

When asked about the difficulties faced by rural students, the minister said that the education ministry was closely coordinating with Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure students face no travel restrictions.

"We have been coordinating with the MHA and we have tried to help students as much as possible. Besides the admit cards given to students will also act as a pass and this has been conveyed to the health, home and education secretaries of all states. We are in constant touch with the states," the minister said.

Placing the onus on states to make travel arrangements for students who are finding it difficult to reach their respective exam centres, Pokhriyal said: "This is not a Central Government exam. It is an exam to select the students from all states, so it is the responsibility of states to step forward and help students who are in any kind of difficulty. State governments should make sure the children can reach safely and securely to the exam centres."

The minister had earlier too defended the decision to go ahead with these cruicial exams, which sees lakhs of aspirants apply from all parts of the country each year.

"National Testing Agency (NTA) officials told me that over 7 lakh candidates have downloaded JEE (Main) admit cards while over 10 lakh aspirants have downloaded NEET admit cards. This shows that students want the exams be held at any cost," Pokhriyal told PTI on Thursday.

"We have received mails from students and parents who are in favour of holding exams as they have been preparing for the exams from at least two three years," he added.

He also said that the Central Government has added more centres for the student's convenience and to prevent overcrowding at centres.

However, several students have dismissed the Union minister's deduction, stating that they had to download the admit card to find out the details of the centre alotted to them for the exams.

JEE exam centres have been increased to 660 from 570 while there are now 3,842 NEET centres, up from 2,546, the minister said, adding that 99 percent students have been allotted the centre of their choice.

Meanwhile, some states announced on Saturday that they will be providing free travel and accomodation for students to esnure their safety.

These exams have already been deferred twice in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The JEE (Main) exam was originally scheduled to be held from 7-11 April, but postponed to 18-23 July, whereas the NEET-UG was originally scheduled for 3 May, but was pushed to 26 July.

They were postponed again and while the NEET exam is scheduled to be held on 13 September, engineering entrance exam JEE I(Main) has been planned from 1-6 September.

Around 8.58 lakh candidates have registered for JEE (Main) and 15.97 lakh students have registered for NEET.

 

With inputs from PTI



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/34J7O29
FP Staff

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

Aditya L1 Mission: Spacecraft is nearing its final phase, says ISRO chief

-
Aditya L1 spacecraft is nearing its final phase, and manoeuvres to enter the L1 point are expected to be completed by January 7, 2024, according to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. “Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase,” the ISRO chief told PTI on the sidelines of an event organised at VSSC to commemorate the 60th year of the First Sounding Rocket Launch. Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, was successfully launched on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million km from Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, considered closest to the Sun. He said that the last preparations for the spacecraft’s entry into the L1 point are currently underway incrementally.”Possibly by January 7th, the final manoeuvres will be done for entering into the L1 point,” Somanath added. Among other tasks, it will capture and tr
Read more