Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi during Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, at AICC HQ in New Delhi.
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi will hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday with chief ministers of Congress-ruled states and also CMs of West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand on issues of NEET, JEE exams and GST dues of states. However, the National Testing Agency Tuesday confirmed that JEE, NEET exams will not be postponed and will take place as scheduled.
The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) will be conducted in September as scheduled, NTA officials said on Tuesday, amid a growing chorus for postponing the crucial tests in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Testing Agency said it has planned several steps to conduct the papers safely which include increasing the number of examination centers, alternate seating plan, fewer candidates per room and staggered entry and exit.
These steps have been introduced to ensure adherence to social distancing norms at the centres in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. Officials in the Ministry of Education asserted the exams will be conducted as per schedule.
While the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) is scheduled from September 1-6, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) is planned on September 13.
"The number of examination centers have also been increased from 570 to 660 (for JEE Main) and 2,546 to 3843 (for NEET). While JEE-Mains is a computer-based test, NEET is a pen-paper test,” the NTA said in a statement.
“Additionally, in case of JEE-Mains, the number of shifts has been increased from the earlier 8 to 12, and the number of candidates per shift has been reduced from earlier 1.32 lakh to 85,000 now," it said.
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