NEET-UG 2021 will not be postponed: NTA
NTA DG Vineet Joshi said, "There is no direct clash of NEET with CBSE board exams, it will be held as scheduled on September 12."
NEET 2021: Amid a huge outcry among students to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2021, the National Testing Agency has confirmed that NEET will not be postponed, and will be held as scheduled on Sunday (September 12). Just weeks ahead the NEET exam, NTA DG Vineet Joshi told IndiaTV, "There is no direct clash of NEET with CBSE board exams, it will be held as scheduled on September 12." Regarding, increase of attempts in NEET, the NTA official said, "The decision regarding multiple attempts in NEET will be taken by health ministry. As of now, there is no plan to increase the attempts of the medical entrance."
A section of students is demanding to postpone NEET as there is a clash with the CBSE board improvement, compartment exams, other entrance exams. CBSE Class 12 students will have Biology exam on September 6, Physics on September 9, two major science papers on the same week of NEET exam.
The other entrance exams like AP EAMCET will be held on September 3, 6 and 7, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) exam will be conducted from September 7 to 9.
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Amaya Pandit, a NEET aspirant said, "First Covid-19 pandemic, and now NTA's decision to conduct the exam on September 12 will jeopardise our year-long preparation for medical entrance. With two important board exam papers in the same week, how students can do well in medial entrance exam- NEET. Like JEE, we don't have multiple attempts, we have to wait for a year again to appear for medical entrance."
Another candidate Abhishek Gupta said, "We are requesting NTA, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to postpone the NEET exam date for a week. Conduct NEET exam on and after September 19, we can atleast get a week to appear for exam."
Meanwhile, various online polls conducted showed that over 80 per cent of students are demanding to postpone NEET exam. Hashtags like #delayNEETUG #shiftNEETug, #postponeNEETUG are the top trends on Twitter apart from #Taliban, #Afghanistancrisis.
A total of 16.1 lakh candidates have enrolled to appear for medical entrance- NEET 2021. NEET paper pattern was earlier changed in July, as per the new paper pattern, the students will have to attempt 180 questions out of 200 multiple-choice type (MCQ) questions from sections of Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology.
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