Students write an examination
Students write an examination

NEET and JEE dates to be announced on May 5: HRD Ministry

The NEET and JEE-Mains exams, earlier scheduled to be held on May 3, were postponed because of the pandemic.

In a relief for engineering and medical aspirants, the HRD ministry on Sunday said fresh dates for competitive exams -- JEE and NEET -- will be announced on May 5.

The exams were postponed due to nationwide lockdown announced to contain the spread of COVID-19.

"The fresh dates will be announced by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on May 5. This will put an end to uncertainty for the aspirants. The minister will also interact with students online the same day," a senior ministry official said.

While Joint Entrance Exam-Mains (JEE-MAINS) is conducted for admission to engineering colleges across the country, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is conducted for medical colleges.

Earlier, NEET was scheduled to be held on May 3, 2020. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts NEET had announced in the last week of March that the exam was likely to be held in the last week of May 2020. The admit cards which were to be issued at the time were also withheld, to be given out on a later date.

In states like Kerala and Karnataka, class 12 state board exams had to be cancelled. In Andhra and Telangana, while the exams were completed, evaluation of answer sheets has been put on hold. In Tamil Nadu, only the last exam had to be cancelled. CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Exam) exams for class 10 and 12 have also been postponed.

Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of NEET challenged by minority institutions. A batch of writ petitions filed in 2012 had challenged the constitutional validity of the entrance examination notifications, arguing that the exam infringed upon the right to freedom of trade and business of educational institutions under Article 19(1)(g). However, the SC maintained that NEET did not infringe upon their rights.

PTI Inputs

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