The exam conundrum
There is no knowing how long this pandemic will continue (“At Opposition meeting, CMs plan to move SC on JEE, NEET”, August 27). Keeping the JEE, NEET exams in abeyance is not in the interest of lakhs of enrolled candidates. The National Testing Agency has said safety measures such as more testing centres, fewer students per room, and staggered entry and arrival will be put in place. Students study for months on end to write these exams; interminable delays blunt their preparedness. Neither is India going to achieve herd immunity nor is it going to see a vaccine any time soon. By then the next batch will be ready to sit for these exams creating an untenable situation.
N. Sadhasiva Reddy,
Bengaluru
Doing away with the JEE, NEET exams this year looks prudent. It is possible that many parents are discouraging their children from attending the exams due to fear of infection. In such a case, potential candidates may lose their chance of sitting for an exam that will enable them to pursue a professional course. Authorities can consider admissions to medical and dental courses on the basis of marks scored by the students in their Class 12 exams.
V.N. Subramanyam,
Bengaluru
The pandemic has exposed the chinks in our public health infrastructure. Nothing can be more short-sighted than the willingness to disrupt medical education that feeds the reservoir of medical professionals. Testing of candidates seeking medical seats, however inequitable it may appear, is unavoidable considering the disparity in the academic standards of various higher secondary streams and the demand-supply gap in seat availability. The Opposition parties can serve national interest better if they offer valuable suggestions to mitigate the difficulties of candidates living in hotspots and a roadmap to equip public schooling with the curricular and pedagogic wherewithal to level the playing field in accessing professional education.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvnanthapuram
Each State has a different number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Each State also has different health and infrastructural capacities. At this juncture, how can one justify conducting an entrance exam throughout the nation on the same day?
Premkumar Thomas,
Thiruvarur
Parshuram politics
The SP wants to build a statue of Parshuram in U.P., the BSP an even bigger one, and the Congress wants Parshuram Jayanti restored as a State holiday (“The battle for Parshuram”, Aug. 27). Mayawati once said, “We should not forget that we’re a secular country”. Akhilesh Yadav has spoken of fighting a “communal BJP”. Now, they and the Congress, which also calls itself secular, are promising statues of Parshuram with an eye on electoral gains. What moral right do any of these parties have to claim that they are fighting for secularism? Secularism is one of the most misused words in Indian politics.
C.G. Kuriakose,
Ernakulam
