Politics on JEE-NEET

A battle of wits is going on between Indian government and Indian Opposition on the issue of JEE and National Entrance Eligibility Test Examinations. If the Opposition wants to stall the test claiming that it could expose lives of lakhs of examinees to risk of Covid-19, the government wants to conduct these tests to save the career of the students. If the Opposition says that examinations are not possible when whole of the country is submerged under floods the government says that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure that the students reach the examination centers and return home safely. If weighed in the balance of reasoning it appears that the claims and counter claims of Government and the Opposition are justified. Surely, if the career of the students cannot be compromised their life also cannot be put to risk.

There can be no denying that the challenge of floods is superficial as the water in the rivers will start receding once the Monsoon season ends but when will the challenge of Corona virus end nothing can be said about that. If I am not wrong, after completion of Lock Down-2, Prime Minister Narindra Modi had said that people will have to learn living with Covid-19 and he was not wrong to say so as there is no immediate sign of flattening of the ‘curve’. Therefore, to keep the life going a reasonable decision must be taken to solve the complex riddle of NEET and JEE tests particularly when liquor shops have been since opened and decision to open Malls and Theatres; and Metro and Local Trains is also being considered. The claim of the Opposition that when Ministers are not safe from Covid-19 how can students remain unaffected by Corona, also does not seem justified. Rather it is a reply in itself. Imagine if those living in ‘isolation’ are not safe then how can students remain safe even if they skip examinations?

I have been myself actively associated with student movement for nearly seven years. In our times, Student Federation of India used to be the most popular student organizations in colleges and I remained its state secretary for three years with Professor Bhim Singh as president. Therefore, who else can understand the issues of the students and their psychology better than me? So, whatever I will say I will say it on the basis of my personal experience which may not necessarily be the experience of other students. My personal experience says that more than 98 % of the students join schools and colleges to make their career. Some of them want to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, officers and; school and college teachers but they follow the dictates of 0.2 percent remaining students who like me are non-serious in studies and have no ambition in life. They are either from affluent families or have political ambition to achieve which merit is no criterion. They are vocal and they are aggressive; and they enjoy tacit support of those teachers also who somehow are antiestablishment. Interestingly, aim of this teacher-student nexus is to create hurdles in the smooth functioning of the management. Same thing could be happening with the examinees of the JEE and NEET also who have become voice of the Opposition against the managers(government) of the country and coming on the streets of Congress backed NSUI is a proof of that.

The idea of initiating a dialogue with the examinees also does not hold well here because the million dollar question is who to talk to- to 98% speechless or 0.2 of vocal ones who actually do not represent the aspirations of the majority students?

My suggestion on the subject as an old student activist is that government should evolve some mechanism to ascertain the wish of the majority of the examinees instead of talking to a handful of vocal students and then go ahead according to their wish. Reportedly, 60 % of total 26 thousand aspirants have already expressed their willingness to go for the test within hours of the notification. If this number swells beyond 75% then the government obtains the legitimacy of holding the examinations though not without making foolproof arrangements for smooth and safe conduct of the examinations taking the flood and Covid-19 challenges in to consideration.

Opposition is Opposition and opposition is their constitutional right but the responsibility of the government is to come to the expectation of general public (students in this case).

What happens to the health and career of the students can be a mystery but that their issue has become a political battlefield between the Opposition and the ruling party right now and this is from which students should remain away.