JEE row: Centre putting lives of students at risk, says Jakhar

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 27

Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar today accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of "playing with the lives" of the youth by insisting on holding the JEE and NEET amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jakhar asked whether the lives of students "mattered less" than those of MPs or MLAs for the Modi government. Citing the plans to change the seating arrangements of the MPs for the first time in the history of Parliament, he said, "Will it be appropriate to put the health of millions of students at risk as they will have to sit together in the examination centres?"

The state Congress chief said in fact, the Modi government was "adamant" on conducting the examinations only because Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was the first to demand that these should not be held at this critical stage.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla, too, said the Centre was imposing examinations on students, ignoring the threat to their lives. "But we will not compromise on this matter and will soon file a collective review petition in the Supreme Court," he said.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2QJJl4N