Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) are the two most important national level exams which are held for getting admission in renowned engineering and medical colleges. These two exams have got delayed due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic and JEE Main is rescheduled from 1-6 September while NEET 2020 is scheduled on 13 September by National Testing Agency (NTA). Although the issue of exam postponement is in the limelight but the government is complying with the Supreme Court’s observation.
Students have been confused and waiting for about 5 months. There is no clarity on how much more the students may have to wait after this. There are no signs of the pandemic going away anytime soon. When no one including the World Health Organisation knows when this pandemic will end, we have to learn to live with it. In a scenario where if we see a postponement, then on this ground we would not be able to have the exams getting conducted till the pandemic completely vanishes as the fear would sustain. If we postpone it any longer then we would be in a much worse position and we may then be saying it would have been better if they were conducted in April. If the exams don’t get conducted, lakhs of students will lose a valuable year. Secondly, the honorable Supreme Court has said that we can’t waste one precious year of a student’s career as we are already 6 months late in starting the session and the course can’t be squeezed.
We must honour the judgement and there is a lot of merit in it. We have to fight a pandemic and continue until we find a cure and not let it damage careers and opportunities. We are sure that authorities would have taken utmost precautions and students can stay safe by practicing the guidelines. Also, if you look at SAT, GMAT, etc, exams have also started so there is no point delaying the exam further. Indian students may lag globally because in all other countries, things are moving on. The only solution is all countries together decide that this year is a zero year then the only loss can be minimized but the cost is very high that after 4-5 years, the world will have a shortage of engineers, doctors and other professional staff as well.
In the situation where the exams get postponed, then an entire year is likely to be wasted as engineering and medical courses can’t be squeezed by 10 to 12 months. They wouldn’t have an option but to wait for the next dates and prepare themselves for the subsequent year. Other options would be taking admissions based on 12th board marks but that is impossible as India has so many boards so normalisation will be an issue which has been faced earlier also and second it is not part of the game serious candidates will lose out on it big time. Even the board results have faced exceptions this year. Preparation will go too long and the consequences will be negative because next year the number of aspirants will be double, and competition will be severely high such that the average student would have low chances of cracking the exam.
On how the students should approach the exams, there should be nothing new to study now and the entire focus should be on streamlining and keeping the focus on what has already been prepared. What would count most is how students studied during the preparatory phase and how confident they are about their hard work. In order to give a finishing touch, they can take a mock test regularly and practice solving previous years’ papers or mock tests released by NTA.
Lastly, students and parents must realise the importance of one full year and take a call accordingly. There are elements which are politicizing an issue and it may create a very negative precedent. This in itself is a big distraction that students need to ward off to be able to give their best. We must realize that the apex court is sensitive to all parties and would have considered all merits and demerits before taking this call. We must trust the honorable Supreme Court’s judgement. The postponement would lead to a very tough situation to face next year. We must not be myopic and should see the larger picture. Sometimes running away or delaying the eventuality seems like an easy option but not the wise one. If the students can take this seemingly easy exit from the situation out of the options that they are considering, they would be able to perform to their fullest potential. Nobody would benefit from a postponement in reality. We believe one should be pragmatic and approach it with an open mind.
The author is the director, academics at Vidyamandir Classes.