NEET 2021: NTA to announce exam date 'very shortly'
The National Testing Agency (NTA) is set to end suspense over the exam schedule for medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
When India TV reached out to NTA Director General Vineet Joshi over the uncertainty over the exam date, he said that an announcement is going to be made "very shortly".
Earlier, a viral circular had claimed that the entrance exam will be conducted on September 5 this year. The circular purportedly published by the National Testing Agency (NTA) was doing the rounds on social media. However, Joshi clarified that no such circular had been issued by the premier agency.
On Wednesday, NTA said that it was still in consultation with the concerned stakeholders for finalizing a suitable date for the conduct of NEET (UG) – 2021, keeping in view the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This made way for speculations that the exam could be postponed to a later date.
This week, the testing agency had announced its decision to hold the third edition of engineering entrance JEE (Mains) from July 20 till July 25 and the last session between July 27 and August 2.
In all probability, the exam could be deferred.
Last year, NEET was conducted on September 13 amid strict precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The test was offered in 11 languages - English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
The National Testing Agency had set in place strict standard operating procedures in view of the pandemic, including measures like reducing the number of candidates per room from the earlier 24 to 12. The testing agency had also increased the number of centres from 2,546 in 2019 to 3,862 to ensure crowd management and staggered entry and exit protocols.
READ MORE: Fact Check: NEET exam 2021 to be conducted on September 5?
