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The protest came on a day Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the government must listen to the ‘mann ki baat’ of students and arrive at “an acceptable solution” and his party demanded that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) be deferred.
According to the leftist All India Students Association (AISA), over 4,200 students observed the day-long hunger strike at their respective home demanding that CBSE compartment exams of Classes 10 and 12 be canceled and entrance exams such as the UGC-NET, CLAT, NEET, and JEE be postponed.
Using the hashtag, SATYAGRAHagainstExamInCovid, many students also took to Twitter to appeal to the government to heed to their demands.
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He urged the government to postpone the exams till normalcy is restored.
Anisha, hailing from Odisha, said with all the hotels and guest houses closed, where would they stay in case they have to travel for exams.
“I am from Balasore and my NEET exam centre is in Bhubaneswar. I will have to travel for five hours to take my exam. There are no hotels or guesthouses that are open. Where will we stay?” she said.
Siddh Dutt, who will be appearing for the CBSE compartment exam, said, “I am an asthma patient. I am scared of what may happen to me if I catch Covid-19.”
Madhurima, who said she has to take four different entrance exams, wants authorities to listen to her appeal “Please produce a vaccine so that we can take exams. “I am a JEE, IISER, DUET aspirant, and also have to take another entrance exam,” she said.
Md Danish Khan from Bhagalpur in Bihar said he has been “allotted an exam center in Patna, which is a Covid-19 hotspot”.
“I do not want to risk the lives of my relatives by staying at their place when I go to take the exam. I also stay in a joint family and if I contract the virus, it will create a chain of infection,” he said.
A Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) aspirant from Kolkata, who requested anonymity, said she fears for her parents’ safety during this time.
“My father is a diabetic and my mother just had an operation for a tumor. Even if they go to drop me to the exam centre using public transport, I will be putting them at risk. The government is not ready to listen to us.
“We will have to sit and write the exams wearing masks, gloves, and headgear under hot weather conditions,” she said.
Other students also shared similar woes and urged the government to postpone entrance exams and declare the academic year as a “zero year”.
The AISA lent solidarity to the demands of the students.
A day ago, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had appealed to the central government to cancel medical and engineering entrance exams JEE and NEET in view of the Covid-19 situation.
He also said an alternative admission methodology should be used this year and the exams should not be conducted.
On Friday, Education Ministry officials had said the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) will be conducted in September as scheduled.
Jwaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh said student representatives of some universities, including Hyderabad Central University, Aligarh Muslim University, and JNU, have written to the National Testing Agency over issues pertaining to the recently declared exam date of UGC NET.
“We request the authorities to address the logistical issues, before going ahead with the exam,” she tweeted.
JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh tweeted
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shut down as part of measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
A nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day and threw economic activities out of gear.