Tamil Nadu to urge Centre to postpone NEET citing pandemic

Chennai

The original schedule for undergraduate NEET 2020 was on May 3. However, The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET across the country, in its notification, said the medical entrance exams have been rescheduled to July 26 due to extraordinary circumstances arising from COVID-19 pandemic.

As there is a steady increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the State, as well as across the country, the Tamil Nadu government hoped that the NTA would once again postpone the exams.

“However, as there is no information from the NTA or MHRD yet, our government will be asking the Centre to postpone NEET,” a senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next on Monday.

Stating that more than 1.2 lakh medical aspirants from the State have registered to appear for NEET, he said, “All students will be writing exams in more than 500 centres across all the districts.”

The official said that a special medical expert team constituted by the government to monitor the pandemic in the State told the authorities that it will be difficult to conduct NEET even by August.

“In addition, as the Class 12 State board exam results are yet to be announced, students might not be able to travel to appear for NEET,” he said, adding, “The government is also planning to stretch the shutdown period further and chances of conducting NEET is low.”

He said the State government might also ask the Centre to cancel NEET and conduct admission to medical seats based on Class 12 marks, which would also help rural students who could not pursue NEET private coaching due to total shutdown.

“Similarly, the State is also expected to request postponement of Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), the other competitive exam parallel to NEET for students who want admissions to IITs,” he said.