The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, on 24 August appealed to the central government to postpone the JEE and the NEET due to the pandemic.

The JEE is given for admission to the premier engineering colleges while the NEET is given for admission to undergraduate medical courses. The Chief Minister claimed she was vocal about the matter during the last video conference of Chief Ministers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Chief Minister said that she was against the UGC guidelines that mandated that the terminal examinations of final-year students should be completed by the end of September, saying that it would jeopardize the lives of many students.

She appealed to the Centre to consider the risks and postpone the examinations until the situation ameliorates. “Now with the directive of @EduMinOfIndia to conduct NEET, JEE 2020 in Sep, I would again appeal to the Centre to assess the risk and postpone these examinations until the situation is conducive again,” she tweeted.

The Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking the postponement of JEE Main April 2020 and NEET, stating that the precious year of students “cannot be wasted” and that “life has to go on”.

JEE Main is due to be held from 1 to 6 September, while JEE Advanced is scheduled for 27 September. NEET will be held on 13 September.