Address concerns of JEE, NEET students, find an 'acceptable solution': Rahul Gandhi urges Centre

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (August 23) urged the government to listen to the 'Mann Ki Baat' of students and address the concerns of those students who have been demanding postponement of the entrance examinations. It is to be noted that NEET is scheduled on September 13 and JEE-Mains will be held from September 1-6.

"Today lakhs of students are saying something. Their opinion on JEE, NEET exams should be heard and the government should arrive at an acceptable solution," tweeted Rahul Gandhi.

आज हमारे लाखों छात्र सरकार से कुछ कह रहे हैं। NEET, JEE परीक्षा के बारे में उनकी बात सुनी जानी चाहिए और सरकार को एक सार्थक हल निकालना चाहिए।

GOI must listen to the #StudentsKeMannKiBaat about NEET, JEE exams and arrive at an acceptable solution.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 23, 2020

On Saturday (August 22), Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had also requested the Central government to cancel JEE and NEET admission exams and find an alternative arrangement for admissions due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

"Central Government is playing with the lives of students in the name of JEE-NEET. I request Central Government to cancel these two exams immediately and find an alternative arrangement for admissions this year," Sisodia tweeted.

"To think that just NEET-JEE exam is the only option for admission is very conservative and impractical thinking. Educational institutions around the world are adopting new methods of admission. Why can't we do it in India? Where is it sensible to stake children's lives in the name of entrance examination?", he added.

It may be recalled that on Friday (August 21) the National Testing Agency (NTA) has confirmed that the JEE (Main) exam and NEET (UG) will be held as per scheduled.

"The NTA is happy to share with the JEE (Main) 2020 candidates that it has been able to offer the first choice of preference of centre cities to 99.07 per cent of the candidates. 142 candidates have, subsequently, requested for a change in their allotted centre city due to various reasons, and the NTA is considering these requests positively. NEET (UG)-2020 is concerned, again for the first time, candidates of this examination were given opportunity five times to change their choice of centre city," NTA said in a statement.