As the students across the country have staunchly been protesting against the Center over refusing to ear their beseech of deferring the NEET and JEE Mains 2020 exams amid being surfaced around the fear and uncertainty of the COVID-19 outbreak and restrictions, their protests had got solidarity from beyond the borders after young global activist Greta Thunberg pitched in and joined the students and enhanced their voice of getting the exams postponed. 

India has been witnessing a nationwide call from the aspirants as they demand the Central government to defer the national examinations after it asserted that the JEE and NEET exams will be held in September as scheduled. The students have been urging the center to ear their concerns and postpone the exams and the political leaders have also been joining the students to escalate the demand of students in deferring the examinations. 

On Tuesday, Greta Thunberg - the 17-year-old Swedish Environmental activist, who was conferred as Time's 2019 person of the year, took to Twitter and raised her voice for the Indian students. In her message, she said, "It’s deeply unfair that students of India are asked to sit national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to #PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID". Her voice for the younger generation of India had become a significant one after it had drawn major attention across the country. 

It’s deeply unfair that students of India are asked to sit national exams during the Covid-19 pandemic and while millions have also been impacted by the extreme floods. I stand with their call to #PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) August 25, 2020

The call to postpone the exams has been a nationwide trend since the exams were announced by the Ministry of Education. According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which schedules and conducts the nationwide entrance examinations, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will be taking place on September 13 and the central agency had said it had made adequate arrangements for the NEET exam whereas the NTA said that the JEE Mains will be conducted from September 1 to 6 for which it has started releasing admit cards for the students for exams. 

Earlier this month, the Union Home Ministry highlighted the Supreme Court's judgment that the university and entrance exams could take place by citing the academic interests of the students. The Ministry stated that the permission has been given to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to conduct exams, following which the body has fully prepared to conduct the exams. 

The Ministry further stated that the decision of conducting exams has been taken in the academic interests of a large number of students. However, while the Center has been in full swing to go with its decision by not listening to the students, the students have unitedly been agitating against the Center to postpone the exams by citing the fear, uncertainty, and restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The students have stated that they live in fear of the pandemic with very little accessibility to the examination centers as the transportation channels have been shut in the states due to the outbreak and the natural disasters like heavy rainfall and floods in most of the states. The students also said they have been bracing up mental stress and the lack of proper transportation and accessibility would further burden them a huge challenge than the examinations and demanding the Center to defer the examinations. 

Along with the students, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and DMK President MK Stalin had demanded the Prime Minister to postpone the exams in the wake of the series concerns raised by the students amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Besides the national leaders, global activist Greta Thunberg had voiced against what has become Center's coercive approach of negating to hear the concerns of the students. 

According to the reports, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the NEET exam won't be taking place in the Gulf countries this year and the Indian students living in Gulf are now pushed to travel to India through Vande Bharat flights to appear for the exams and the exams would be held offline and the students those who arrive in the country from Gulf must undergo mandatory quarantine period of 14 days.