JEE, NEET postponed to September

JEE, NEET postponed to September

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi  04.06.2020

The JEE (Main and Advanced) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (UG) for admission to engineering and medical courses have been postponed to September in view of the surge in Covid-19 infections across the the country. The decision was taken on Friday on a recommendation of the expert committee set up by the HRD ministry.

Computer-based multi-session JEE (Main) will be conducted from September 1-6 while JEE (Advanced) —for admission to IITs—will be held on September 27. The pen-paper mode NEET-UG will be held on September 13.

“Safety of the students is paramount and keeping that in view and to ensure quality education, we have decided to postpone the exams,” said HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said, soon after the panel, headed by IIT-Delhi director Prof V Ramgopal Rao, gave the report.

After the initial postponement, JEE (Main) was earlier scheduled from July18-23 while NEET-UG was slated for July 26 and JEE (Advanced) for August

23. Around nine lakh aspirants have registered for the JEE (Main) exam, while 16 lakh have registered for NEET-UG exams. Concerned over the pandemic situation, candidates from across the country had been demanding postponement of the exams.

According to a senior HRD ministry official, “The committee in its report recommended postponing the exam after reviewing the prevailing situation. There are a large number of centres which fall under containment zones and large areas in Assam and Bihar are facing floods. Therefore, it would not be possible to conduct the exams in the present scenario.”

The delay in the entrance exams will have a cascading effect on the new academic session. The new session for the first year students, as per the present planning, is expected to commence from November.

Full report on www.toi.in

Owing to lockdown, CISCE announces 25% reduction in syllabus for 2021 board exams

New Delhi:

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Friday announced a reduction of up to 25% in syllabus for Classes X and XII board exams in 2021taking into account the learning disruption due to closure of schools during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

“...Schools across the country have been shut for the past three months due to the lockdown. While a number of CISCE-affiliated schools have tried to adapt to this changed scenario and have tried to keep alive the teaching learning process through online classes, there has been a significant shortening of the academic year and loss of the instructional hours,” CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said. PTI