Several students in Telangana are demanding that the Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) be postponed, amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the state.
Around 2 lakh students are estimated to have applied for the EAMCET, which is a prerequisite for admission into many engineering and medical colleges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The EAMCET is written by students who have completed their second year of Intermediate education (equivalent to class 12).
The exam is conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) in Hyderabad on behalf of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE).
Several people have been taking to social media with the hashtags #postponeeamcet and #postponeTSEAMCET2020 to voice their concerns about conducting the examination during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many pointed out that most exam centres would be located in Hyderabad, which is a hotspot and also that not everyone will be able to take the exams online either, especially in rural areas.
The Exam centres for Ts-Cet exams is in major cities ( Hyd) as the situation in Hyderabad is not good it will adversely affect the situation. It is better to postpone the exam or conduct in Online #postponeeamcet #postponeTSEAMCET2020 @TelanganaCMO @KTRTRS @TSEduDept @TSNSUI
— Muqthar Mohammad (@immuqthar19) June 25, 2020
Health is wealth. We can't put our lives on stake for an exam. The last three days with more than 800 cases a day and more than 600 cases are from GHMC itself. Now we request the government to postpone exams. #postponeTSEAMCET2020 @KTRTRS @TelanganaCMO pic.twitter.com/27t3klmWTK
— Aryan Kamulugari (@AKamulugari) June 25, 2020
What if someone has corona and can't write the exam but did a lot of hard work to prepare for it ?#postponetseamcet #postponeTSCET #postponeeamcet2020
— sweety (@Sahithya0203) June 25, 2020
#postponeTSEAMCET2020 @SabithaindraTRS @KTRTRS
— Vaishnavi Tadikonda (@VaishnaviTadik1) June 25, 2020
Sure! Entrances are important. They do matter but not more than our lives. Let people recover. Let the number of cases go down. Let scientists find an antidote and vaccine. Exams and academic year can wait. please Postpone eamcet!
As per the latest schedule released, Engineering stream exams will be held on July 6,7 and 8 in two batches of 9 am to 12 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm, while the exams for Agriculture and Medical streams will be held on July 8 and July 9. The exams were initially scheduled to be held in May.
A detailed notification with all the information required for students planning to write the exam can be found here. The last date for submission of online applications with a late fee is June 30.
An online petition has also been started on Change.org, demanding that the exam be postponed.
The petition, which has over 4,500 signatures at the time of writing, states, "Almost 13,000 people in Telangana have tested positive for the coronavirus, and these frightening numbers are only increasing at an alarming, exponential rate. In this current pandemic outbreak, physical distancing and quarantining are the need of the hour."
"The sheer scale of an exam such as the TS EAMCET is antithetical to the idea of physical distancing. Conducting the exams from 6-9 July, 2020 is endangering the health and safety of the 2.2 lakh students, their families and the thousands of staff members required to facilitate this exam," the petition added.
The petition requested the Telangana government "to take cognizance of this massive risk and postpone and adjourn the TS EAMCET 2020 till the pandemic situation has subsided."
Last week, Telangana Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy released the results of the Intermediate Public Examinations held in March 2020, for the first and second year of Intermediate
One final Intermediate exam was postponed indefinitely when the nation-wide COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in March. It was conducted in the first week of June with precautions.