The undergraduate medical and engineering entrance exams have been pushed back by two months to September in view of the pandemic.

Human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal tweeted on Friday: “Keeping in mind the safety of students and to ensure quality education we have decided to postpone #JEE & #NEET examinations. JEE Main examination will be held between 1st-6th Sept, JEE Advanced exam will be held on 27th Sept & NEET examination will be held on 13th Sept.”

The JEE exams are held to select students for engineering courses and the NEET is for admission to medical programmes. The JEE Main was scheduled to be held between July 18 and 23. The NEET was to be conducted on July 26.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts these exams, has issued notifications revising the dates.

Over 11 lakh students have registered for the JEE Main. Around 15.94 lakh students are to take the NEET. The top 2.5 lakh rank-holders in the JEE-Main will be eligible to appear for the JEE Advanced for admission to IITs.

The National Institutes of Technology and over 1,500 engineering colleges admit students to BTech courses through JEE Main. This exam was originally slated to be held in the first week of April. The NEET, for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, was originally scheduled for May.