Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Wednesday that 75 per cent of the candidates in the state could not appear for JEE held on September 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mamata Banerjee blamed the Centre’s ego for it and said the lives of the students were being ruined. In other states only half of the examinees managed to turn up due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, she informed.
Banerjee has been against the Centre’s decision to hold JEE (Mains) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). She urged the Centre to rethink about those who managed to appear for the examination and those who could not.
“Our students are in great trouble. So many of them were not able to attempt JEE. That’s why we had requested the central government to appeal to the Supreme Court or review the matter again so that students are not deprived,” she told reporters.
“Yesterday out of 4,652 candidates for JEE in West Bengal only 1,167 could appear for it despite all arrangements by the government for them. This means only 25 per cent could attempt to write the examinations and the rest 75 per cent could not in West Bengal. We had made the arrangements as per the instructions (of the central government),” she added.
Banerjee, who has been among the harshest critics of BJP, expressed her displeasure over the saffron party-led government at the Centre for its stand on holding JEE/NEET despite several appeals. “Who will be held responsible for those who could not sit for the examinations due to the COVID-19 pandemic?” she asked.
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“What would have gone wrong if the examinations were deferred by another few days? Why is there so much of ego? Why are you (central government) so stubborn? Who gave you the right to spoil the future of the students,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo hit out.
Banerjee said the students had never disagreed to appear for the exams. “They (the students) had never disagreed to sit for the examinations. They had only requested to defer it by a few more days during the pandemic. They had appealed only for this. This is a matter of a student’s health,” said Banerjee.
Stating that she felt sad for those students who could not appear for the examinations, the chief minister said “I am pained and I am shocked. I will again ask the Centre to review how many students could sit for the tests and how many could not in the different states”.
Banerjee had written two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week seeking postponement of the entrance examinations.
The JEE (Main) April 2020 is scheduled to be held from September 1-6, while the NEET UG 2020 exam is scheduled for September 13.
