Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Thursday reacted sharply to the decision of Union Ministry of Education not to postpone JEE and NEET examinations. JPCC said that it will hold a protest in front of Raj Bhawan on Friday.
JEE-Mains is scheduled to be held from 1-6 September, while NEET is scheduled on 13 September. Owing to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the Country, the parties are demanding delaying the exams, which has already been postponed twice.
Following the direction of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), the demand to postpone the proposed JEE and NEET examination JPCC will hold protests in front of the Central Government offices and establishments located in all district headquarters including the State Capital. While a huge online campaign will be conducted on social media through Speak Up Student Safety. JPCC Chief Rameshwar Oraon said that JEE and NEET examinations should not be conducted during the Corona period. "In this regard, Congress President Sonia Gandhi also held a virtual meeting with other non-BJP ruled states of the Country including Jharkhand on Wednesday. During the meeting the Chief Ministers of all the non-BJP ruled States also talked about starting a mass movement against the conduct of the examination.
In this series, a nationwide protest has been decided on August 28 by issuing a letter on behalf of the party's National General Secretary KC Venugopal," he added.
JPCC Spokesperson Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo said that senior party leader Rahul Gandhi also advocated postponing JEE and NEET for the time being and said that the students appearing in these exams are concerned about their health and future.
Meanwhile, attacking the Central Government for holding the examinations during the days when COVID positive cases cross 75 thousands marks, the party said the Government is playing live with the students. Addressing a press meet, JMM General Secretary, Supreyo Bhattacharya said that all public transport systems are not functioning and hotels, lodges are closed in such a situation which is needed to hold the examination.
"It is known by all that these examination students belong to middle class families so that the Government is not concerned about them. There is no value among students belonging to the middle class, the Central Government only concerning corporate class like Adani, Amabani because the children of corporate houses do not appear in these examinations,' he added.
The party is demanding that the Central Government should ponder on its decision and postpone it because it was postponed twice when the COVID positive cases were below 10 thousand mark, said Bhattacharya.