It isunderstood that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealedto Prime Minister Narendra Modi to postpone the Junior Entrance Examination(JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exams due to Covid-19situation in the country saying that the lives of students should not be put atrisk. The JEE (main) is scheduled to be held between September 1 and 6, whileJEE (Advanced) on September 27. The NEET is scheduled to be held on September13. In a debate hosted by a news channel several parents of students, who arescheduled to answer the examinations, have demanded postponement of thesecrucial exams. It must be said that human lives cannot be put to jeopardyduring the pandemic as it is an enormous health risk to hold the examinationduring a time when there is a steep spike in the Covid-19 positive cases in thecountry and deaths due to the deadly virus. It would be desirable to postponethe prestigious examination, which will be answered by bright and ambitiousstudents from all across the country, until the situation is conducive to holdthem. The Covid-19 tally in the country has breached the 31-lakh mark while thedeath toll has crossed the 57,000 mark. It is pertinent to note that IIT-Bombaybecame the first major institute to scrap face-to-face lectures this year amidthe pandemic and held its 58th convocation in “virtual reality mode” on Sunday.
