The prolonged uncertainty cast in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns from several sectors including parents regarding JEE Mains and NEET to be held in July 2020. 

While some students prefer it to be rescheduled for a later date others want them cancelled. As of now, MHRD has stated that JEE Mains cannot be postponed or cancelled any longer. Twice in the past, it has been deferred due to ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

However, about time, conditions are worsening with increasing curve every day. Amid all the outrage and consistent plea to cancel or postpone, a fresh schedule for JEE Mains will be released sooner. 

A massive campaign took to Twitter, pleading HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to take care of these concerns.

On this occasion, Sarit K Das, Director, IIT Ropar stated, "Cancelling JEE Mains and Advanced is not an option because admission to the IITs is a serious matter and institutes have to admit students.

Instead of taking care of those who are running the campaign, it is better to pay attention to those who are preparing hard to crack the exam.”The director who is in favour of HRD Ministry’s decision to conduct JEE Mains and JEE Advanced also mentioned that an option for further rescheduling can be considered if situations worsen in July. 

He further asserted, conducting IIT Admissions 2020 through Class 12 board results solely, will dilute the quality of IIT. On the other hand, delaying the exams can be compensated by reducing the duration of annual summer breaks for the 4 years.

The IIT Ropar Director asked applicants to concentrate on their studies as the exams will be conducted after a thorough assessment of the situation.

He believes JEE Advanced is the most uniform method to assess students across various boards and sift the deserving for IITs. It would be unfair for students who have been consistently working hard for the past 2 years to crack JEE Mains and Advanced. 

A JEE Advanced organising committee member said, "There is no other standardised process to shortlist candidates for admission to the IITs," on conditions of anonymity.

Additionally, many students consider JEE Mains January edition as a practice test for a live experience. They work on the shortcomings in the second edition of JEE Mains and improve the scores.