NEET 2021 dates likely to roll out this week, or early March, says NTA

There had been a lot of suspense over the conduct of NEET this year. Since the conclusion of NEET 2020, the MBBS and BDS aspirants across the country are eagerly waiting for the National Testing Agency (NTA) to release the timetable for the entrance test for the next academic session.

Now, recently giving a hint on the possible declaration of the MBBS entrance exam dates, the NTA Director-General Vineet Joshi on Tuesday, while speaking to India TV Digital, has stated that the exam date will be announced by February-end, (this week) or early-March.

On the delay in declaring the exam dates for NEET 2021, Joshi said there are a total of 28 boards, two ministries, and NTA involved in the brainstorming process, so the process is taking time.

He further told India TV Digital that the NTA is in consultation with all the stakeholders, and taking into consideration all possible aspects in the best interest of students. Moreover, he expected that a final decision on the exam date will be made by the end of February.

Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the updates concerning the NEET 2021 announcements. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) had given its approval to hold the NEET two times a year, paving the way for the examinations to be organized on the lines of the JEE Main. NEET 2021 twice a year is expected to help the aspirants to be ranked based on the best of two scores if they appear for both sessions. It is the same format as followed by JEE Main last year.

Read Also: NEET 2021 To Be Conducted Twice A Year, Health Ministry Gives Green Signal: Report

While giving this exam, the aspirants go through a lot of stress, if the exam is conducted more than once a year, then the stress of the students will resultantly be less. Besides, this year's academic year being very chaotic due to the coronavirus epidemic and candidates faced a lot of pressure.

NEET, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is a big competitive exam, which is conducted once a year only on pen-paper mode for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses across the country. This year for NEET 2020, 13,66,945 students participated and over 15,97,435 candidates registered for it. NEET 2021 will be held for admission to 91,367 MBBS, 26,949 BDS, 52,720 AYUSH and 525 BVSc seats across India.

Ministry of Education had earlier confirmed via PIB press release that the syllabus of NEET 2021 or any other national level entrance exam will not be changed. However, there may be a change in the exam pattern to ensure students with reduced syllabus are not affected.

Meanwhile, Twitter has been flooded with memes showing students' concern over the delay in the announcement of NEET 2021 dates.