Guwahati: Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma today announced that the lockdown restrictions will be eased if the Government of India decides to go ahead and conduct the JEE and NEE entrance examinations as per schedule.
"If the Government wants to conduct the examinations, the officials of the districts shall ease the lockdown restrictions so that students can appear for the exam," Sarma said responding to a query at a presser in Guwahati city earlier today.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is scheduled to take place on September 13 whereas the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, for entry into under-graduate Engineering Colleges and Institutes, is to be held from September 1 to 6.
It is to be noted that the 3 Barak Valley districts in the state of Assam are currently under lockdown due to a sharp spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the region as well as a surging fatality rate.
The Deputy Commissioners of the 3 districts -- Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi -- have also attested that there is a significant rise in the number of symptpomatic cases in the region. Therefore, the Chief Secretary of Assam, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, has given a go-ahead for the district administrations inn the 3 Lower Assam districts to re-impose stringent lockdown measures to arrest the spread of the pathogen.
The two competitive tests that determine the fate of millions of India's students every year are at the centre of a growing controversy. Many students want the exams, scheduled for September, postponed due to fears over rising Covid-19 case numbers.
Scores of students have taken to social media platforms to protest, and some even petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene. However, National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exams, has so far refused to reschedule them and has decided to go ahead and hold them as per schedule.