Central Board of Secondary Education announced its decision today regarding its position on holding class 10th and class 12th exams which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Class 10^th CBSE board exams have been cancelled along with class 12^th pending papers which were scheduled from July 1 – 15, 2020.

However, class 12^th pending papers have been made optional and the exams can be conducted when the situation is conducive. In some cities with an extremely high number of coronavirus cases, the board 12^th papers may be conducted online. This has again brought back the concerns of JEE Mains for 2020, questioning whether a postponement would be preferable. 

As of now, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has stated that JEE Mains cannot be cancelled. It has been delayed by deferring it twice post lockdown. In view of this, fresh schedules of JEE Mains 2020 are on the way. 

The Supreme Court, last week had directed the CBSE Board to make a decision on holding or cancelling the pending CBSE Board Exam 2020. 

Following the decision of CBSE, NTA will take the decision regarding the coming session of JEE Main 2020 and NEET exam dates. Taking into consideration the pending board exams, it is highly unlikely that JEE Main and NEET exam will be conducted in the month of July.

However, the HRD Ministry has yet not issued an official notification regarding the cancellation or postponement of JEE Main 2020 and NEET 2020 which are to be conducted in late July. Moreover, a section of students and parents have raised their voices for the cancellation of entrance exams, as it is not safe for students to venture and write the exam. 

Internal discussions, consultations with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and the health ministry have already been going on to decide the new exam schedule for JEE Main and the national level medical entrance exams.

NTA which conducts the JEE Main and NEET 2020 entrance test has still not been able to come to a concrete conclusion whether to hold these exams or not as these exams are of paramount importance to engineering and medical aspirants.

As per some sources, a proposal to conduct NEET in both online and offline modes in a staggered manner is also being looked upon to avoid crowding at the examination centres. 

However, no decision has been made and everything is expected to be clear by the next few days. 

The examination date for both the entrance exam is a big question to be answered. The current JEE Main 2020 exam dates are July 18 to 23 while the NEET 2020 exam date is July 26.