NTA Officials confirm no change in NEET 2021 exams, candidates cry '#justice' on Twitter
New Delhi: Amidst candidates demanding to postpone National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exams till October, the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Union Education Ministry has given adamant confirmation that the scheduled date for the exam will not be changed.
While Vineet Joshi, NTA DG has cited that the exam doesn't need to be postponed as there is no direct clash of the date with CBSE board exams, the officials from the Union Ministry of Education have pointed out that changing the date for the exam is going to postpone it for another 60 to 70 days due to logistical issues.
Following this, the candidates took to social platforms to draw attention towards their demand and #JusticeforNEETUGAspirants started trending on Twitter. Besides, the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has also written to the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan requesting to postpone the exam citing the clash of several other exams around the scheduled date for NEET, i.e. September 12.
This demand for postponing the NEET-UG entrance examination has been on Twitter for the past couple of weeks. Medical Dialogues team had recently reported that citing the reason of the clash of dates between several exams, the NEET aspirants had started demanding postponement of the exam on social media and hashtags such as #delayNEETUG, #postponeneetUG2021tilloctober started trending.
Demanding that the exam should be postponed till October, the students in their social media posts have mentioned that the NEET entrance examination is clashing with several other examination dates such as CBSE private and improvement and ICAR.
CBSE Class 12 improvement and compartment exams have been scheduled to be held between August 25 and September 15. In fact, the math paper is just the day after the date for NEET UG. Besides, the dates for ICAR AIEEA, the national-level undergraduate entrance exam for BSc courses, OJEE 2021, Maharashtra CET 2021 are also close to NEET UG.
As per the latest media report in India TV, although students wanted deferment of the exam, the NTA has recently confirmed that the exam is going to be held on September 12, as scheduled. NTA DG Vineet Joshi told IndiaTV, "There is no direct clash of NEET with CBSE board exams, it will be held as scheduled on September 12."
Further referring to the demands regarding the increase in the number of attempts, the NTA official said, "The decision regarding multiple attempts in NEET will be taken by Health Ministry. As of now, there is no plan to increase the attempts of the medical entrance."
The Union Education Ministry has also opposed postponing the exam and the officials have mentioned that any change in the exam date would delay the exam by 60 to 70 days due to logistical issues and this may cause an indefinite delay in the exam due to other uncertainties.
While commenting on the matter, a senior official with the ministry of education told the Times of India, "NEET-UG is a high stake exam and it involves logistics of a large scale. Security is another paramount issue. Moreover, this is a single-day exam, and therefore given the number of candidates NTA takes close to 90 days for preparation. The earlier date has been shifted to September and was announced well in advance. Any further change in date will mean another at least 60 days of preparation. Moreover, given the unprecedented situation, this is the best time for conducting the exams and also the admissions could be conducted without much delay."
"Given the uncertainties, any delay and subsequent unforeseen scenario may delay the exams indefinitely," added the official.
However, this stand of NTA and the Union Education Ministry didn't go down well with the aspirants as they have started trending #JusticeforNEETUGAspirants on Twitter. On Saturday, NSUI has also written to the Union Education Minister regarding the matter.
Pointing out that for appearing in the NEET entrance exam, students need to prepare for months, NSUI in its letter mentioned how close to the date for NEET several other examinations have been scheduled as well. ICAR exam would be held on September 7,8,9, Physics CBSE is on September 9, Physics MP Board is on September 11, Maths CBSE Board is on September 13, COMEDK has been scheduled on September 14 and OJEE has been scheduled to be held in between September 6 and September 18.
"The problem here is that there are many other exams schedule around 12th September, which are subjective in nature, which may break the concentration of a student," NSUI pointed out in its letter.
Demanding that the exam must be delayed, an user wrote on Twitter, "Even Supreme Court has said exams must not clash and enough time must be given #JusticeForNEETUGAspirants."
Tripura Pradesh Youth Congress also has extended its support to the students as it mentioned in a Tweet, "Students have multiple exams in September and it is not possible for them to prepare for all of those together, as each exam pattern is different. They are already suffering from anxiety conducting exams will create extra pressure on them."
"After giving CBSE Physics exam or ICAR exam on 9th September students will return home at night or 10th Sept morning then they have to download admit card and rush to NEET UG exam city on that day. Isn't it injustice?" wrote NEET UG Students Association.
This year, a record number of 16.1 lakh candidates are set to appear for the examination, which is the qualifying examination for the candidates wishing to pursue their education in MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BSMS, BUMS, BHMS, B.Sc. (Nursing), and B.Sc.(Life Sciences) courses.
