NEW DELHI: The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET UG) 2020 scheduled for May 3, 2020 has been postponed to the last week of May. Accordingly, the admit cards which were scheduled to be issued on Friday will be issued after assessing the situation after April 15, 2020. The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday decided to not issue the admit card. The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) will also be rescheduled as the lock down will continue till April 14. NTA in its public notice issued on Friday evening stated that now the NEET UG 2020 “is proposed to be held in the last week of May 2020. Exact date will be announced later after assessing the situation.” Recommended By Colombia

The decision was taken after a meeting between senior officials of the ministries of health and family welfare and human resource development on Friday. The notice issued by Vineet Joshi, director general, NTA, stated: “In view of the hardships faced by the parents and students due to COVID-19 epidemic, the NTA has postponed the ensuing NEET (UG) May 2020 examination scheduled to be held on May 3, 2020.” NTA advised the students to keep visiting the official website for updates and said that candidates are also being informed individually through their registered mobile/ email ids.

With all the remaining CBSE, NIOS and CISCE Board exams being postponed after March 21, the competitive exams to be conducted thereafter are also going to be affected. After announcement of the 21-day lockdown across the country on March 24 the JEE (main) exam scheduled in the first and second week of April 2020 too stands postponed. According to a senior government official, “The new dates are likely to be announced only after the lock down period is over and subsequent review of the COVID-19 outbreak.” According to NTA sources, for the JEE (main) it will probably have to wait till the school education Boards like CBSE announces their new dates for the few exams that could not be conducted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier, the school Boards and NTA were supposed to work on the new dates after March 31, 2020. But now, they may have to wait till the April 14, 2020 lock down period.