Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Centre over the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), which are scheduled to be held next month, saying it does not care about students.
Gandhi was speaking at a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of seven states to work out a united opposition response amid growing chorus for deferring the entrance exams for engineering and medical courses amid the coronavirus crisis.
The meeting was attended by Maharashtra’s Uddhav Thackeray, Punjab’s Amarinder Singh, Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren, Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Baghel and Puducherry’s V Narayanasamy.
Gandhi said that the announcements such as those related to the National Education Policy are worrying and termed it as a set back for progressive, secular and scientific values. The Congress chief also accused the Centre of “uncaringly” dealing with the other problems of students and exams.
During the virtual meeting, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee suggested approaching the Supreme Court again for postponing the exams owing to the prevailing Covid-19 situation.
“This will be my request to all the state governments, let us do it together, let us go to the Supreme Court and postpone the exam for the time being until and unless the situation allows students to appear for the exams,” she said.
Banerjee also referred to the two letters she wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the week seeking the postponement of the entrance exams
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh also backed Banerjee’s call to move the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter.
Uddhav Thackeray cited a US report that said 97,000 children in the country were infected by the coronavirus disease when schools were reopened. “What will we do if such a situation arises here?”
He also said that the schools could not even be opened in June when the number of cases was relatively less, then how can the situation be considered conducive to hold examinations now.
Jharkhand’s Soren also expressed similar concerns and said that the states were not yet ready to hold exams. “When candidates come to exam centres, their parents also accompany them, especially female candidates, which is why the place is likely to become too crowded that may lead to a risky situation,” he said.
The opposition meeting comes a day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) refused to change the exam schedule citing the August 17 Supreme Court order that rejected a petition to postpone the exams as “a crucial year of students cannot be wasted and life has to go on.”
