For over the past couple of weeks, students across the nation have been raising a demand that the all-India engineering and medical examinations, the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Mains) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) be postponed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Several politicians across party lines, activists and celebrities have lent their voice to support the students’ demands. Here is a brief list”
From the Delhi government, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia appealed to the center asking for the exams to be postponed. "The central government is playing with the lives of millions of students by allowing the JEE-NEET to take place. I request the central government to cancel this years' entrances and arrange for a different method of admissions. In this time of unprecedented crisis, an unprecedented step will lead to a solution. Today in 21st century India, we cannot think of an alternate option for entrance examinations! This is not possible,” he wrote in Hindi.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh wrote to the Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal on 22 August, seeking the postponement of the NEET and JEE exams.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also asked the government to listen to the students’ demands. the exams to take place. "GOI must listen to the #StudentsKeMannKiBaat about #NEET #JEE exams and arrive at an acceptable solution,” he tweeted.
Senior Congress member and senior advocate Kapil Sibal tweeted that the entrance exams should be immediately postponed. He said, "Only just, fair and sensible solution is to postpone JEE-NEET.” He added that the 'elitist approach', digital divide, and the hazardous conditions that the exam will take place in is an injustice to the students.
Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy also highlighted the need to postpone NEET and JEE.
"I wrote to the Prime Minister. I know the exams are sacred, but the lives of the students are more sacred. You can’t make them take these exams under so much tension. Why can’t they be postponed till after the rainy season? The Ayush Ministry exams have been postponed. In Guwahati, Assam, Bihar, there are flood conditions!" Swamy had tweeted.
He added that a make or break exam like this if conducted in these conditions will result in dire consequences.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written a letter to the Prime Minister’s office, requesting that the entrance exams be postponed. She wrote, "In our last video conference with you, I had been vocal against the UGC guidelines mandating completion of terminal examinations in universities and colleges by the end of Sept 2020, which had a huge potential to put student lives at risk. My point was that this decision had a huge potential to put students’ lives at risk. We should not put any lives in jeopardy during this pandemic period by taking such unilateral bureaucratic decisions.”
She went on to add that because of the pandemic, the students themselves are agonized and depressed, and this would not help their chances in the entrances.
Maharashtra Minister Aditya Thackeray also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking the JEE-NEET be postponed.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Association(NCPCR) also wrote a letter requesting the immediate postponement of all exams.
DMK President MK Stalin has also written to the central government requesting the postponement of exams. He tweeted, "No decision should be made in haste putting the lives of students at stake. The government should act keeping the well-being and future of students in mind.”
Bollywood actor, Sonu Sood also voiced his support for the postponement of the exams. The actor said that we should not be risking the lives of students in the current situation. “It's my request to the government of India, to postpone the Neet/JEE exams in the current situation of the country! In the given #COVID19 situation, we should care utmost & not risk the lives of students!” he said.
Licypriya Kangujam, the young Manipuri activist urged the government to stop playing politics and take action swiftly. She tweeted, “We don’t want the Government playing politics at the end. If you’re going to postpone, postpone it today. Whatever the credit you want to take, take it but postpone #NEET_JEE today. We don’t have time now. #ModijiActNow.” She has been very vocal in her support.
Students who are requesting the government to postpone the exams have received plenty of support from overseas as well.
Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish environmental activist tweeted her support for the students’ protests, saying that she felt it was ‘deeply unfair’ to ask students to attend exams during a pandemic. “It’s deeply unfair that students of India are asked to sit national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to #PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID,” she said.
Vanessa Nakate, the Ugandan climate activist, retweeted one of Licypriya’s older tweets on the subject. The founder of the Rise Up Movement questioned the government's move by asking if the students really want the exams to be conducted.
American climate activist and founder of Zero Hour, Jamie Margolin, felt that this move by the Centre is ‘putting students in danger’ during an ongoing pandemic. She said, “Millions of students of India are being forced to take #NEET_JEE and other exams during COVID and extreme floods. This is putting students in danger! I stand with the students of India asking that the tests be postponed!"
Author Chetan Bhagat said that exams cause anxiety, which is unwarranted in the current situation, and sought the postponement of exams until 2021. He wrote, “I think a vaccine is around the corner and expected in a few months. Maybe the NEET and JEE could be postponed until then and see the situation in early 2021. Entrance exams cause enough anxiety anyway, adding COVID anxiety to it is not necessary.”
The Environmental activist, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, batting for the health of Indian students registered her support for the protests by saying, "I stand up with #Indianstudents who are in the frontline of climate battle. Their health is the most precious to protect our planet and people".
Bhuvan Bam, the popular Indian YouTuber, questioned why students alone have to risk their lives to write exams while everyone else is working for home. He said, “Are NEET and JEE exams getting postponed? While everyone is required to stay home and work, why to put student life at risk and not wait for the situation to get a bit normal?”
Chinmayi Sripada, the singer questioned the demand to sit for exams when India is already battling a pandemic. “A pandemic we’re battling; floods. Mental health overall has been tough for everyone. Financial distress. And demand to sit for exams. I mean…#PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID,” she tweeted.
The National Testing Agency said on August 25 that arrangements were being made for the JEE exams from September 1 to 6 and for the NEET exam to take place on September 13. The NTA also confirmed that they had started releasing admit cards for the JEE(MAINS) exam.