Conducting the NEET and JEE exams amid COVID-19 has sparked a huge row between students and the state. However, the exams will go ahead, but the Supreme Court has declined the plea to conduct NEET at overseas exam centres.
Instead, the apex court has asked the centre to fly down the overseas aspirants a request for Vande Bharat flights to be used for the same. The exam is slated for 13th September.
NEET aspirants abroad to write the exam in India
The Supreme Court's 3-judge bench comprising- Justices L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta, and S Ravindra Bhat today dismissed the plea to allow students abroad to write the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test later this year at exam centres set up abroad. Instead, the bench direct Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to see if the Vande Bharat flights could be used to bring students to India to write the exam.
The students would be subject to quarantine requirements, the Solicitor General said. The bench also said, "We have to consider public health also. This year it's too late to help the students," Bar and Bench reported.
The Court told the Medical Council of India which conducts NEET to consider online exams from next year so that such a situation doesn't arise in the future.
NEET and JEE students protest exams
Even as the centre and the court makes arrangements for the upcoming exams, students across India are protesting them. Unhappy with the decision to conduct the exams, students have taken to the streets and social media to express displeasure over the matter.
To push for the postponement of the exams, students are observing a day-long hunger strike. Over 4,200 students are joining the strike. Many are raising concerns about public health safety measures observed during the exams. They have also been trending the #SATYAGRAH_AgainstExamsInCovid on Twitter.
