The Supreme Court today announced that the NEET medical entrance exam and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission into the IITs will be held as per schedule. It dismissed a petition by 11 students to defer the exams due to the coronavirus crisis and said, “The careers of students cannot be put under jeopardy.”
These two exams were scheduled for September and shall be conducted then. Justice Arun Mishra who headed the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court said, “Life cannot be stopped. We have to move ahead with all safeguards and all… Are students ready to waste one whole year? Education should be opened up. COVID may continue for a year more. Are you going to wait for another year? Do you know what the loss to the country and peril to the students is?”
Alak Alok Srivastava is the lawyer who represented the 11 students from 11 states who filed a petition and wanted to ask the authorities to conduct the exams only after normalcy is restored. The students also asked to increase the number of examination centres for NEET and JEE across the country. Advocate Srivastava argued that the students are looking at the apex court for relief.
The JEE is scheduled from 1st to 6th September and the NEET exam is scheduled for the 13th September. Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General who represented the National Testing Agency (NTA) informed the court that all the precautions will be taken while conducting the exams.
But does the supreme court guarantee that the students will be safe? Are conducting exams more important than the health of the students?
The states are extending the period of the lockdown, as the number of coronavirus cases keeps rising every min but the centre seems to care less for the students. The supreme court bench themselves conducted this meeting virtually and expect the students to go out of their houses to attend exams. Even if the students succeed in giving these exams they will always be in the fear and question themselves about being infected or will they survive to see their results
As a result of the lockdown, there are no modes of transportation available. So how are the students expected to reach their centre
A hashtag has been trending on twitter #SCpostponeJEE_NEET and several people are supporting it. There are thousands of tweets stating the reason why the exams shouldn’t be conducted and also pleading to the supreme court for a better solution.No one is denying for an online exam, if that is possible, then why not?
Hoping that the Supreme Court considers their plea and realises that the need of the hour is to keep the people save and not force millions of students to gather for exams.
Image Credits:- WGBH News
