Scores of engineering aspirants are demanding that the first session of the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Main scheduled in January be postponed as the crucial exam is slated to be held just a fortnight before board exams and may clash with practical exams.

The first session of the engineering entrance exam is scheduled from January 24 to 31, 2023 except Republic Day.

The class 12 CBSE board exams are slated to be held from February 15, 2023 while practical exams will be conducted in January.

Hashtag "postponeJEEMains" is trending on social media with aspirants tagging the education ministry and National Testing Agency (NTA) raising their demands.

"Pursuing engineering courses and becoming an engineer is a dream of lakhs of students and the emotions of their parents and teachers are connected with this exam. But due to the declaration of premature dates, they have started to give up on their dreams," said Ritu, a JEE-Main aspirant.

Sarfaraz, a social media user tweeted, "Not allowing us a fair chance in JEE Mains will be huge injustice. So please bring about fairness when it comes to exams as important as JEE".

Anubha Sahai, a lawyer and President of India Wide Parents Association, said, "Students are in stress and this is serious. Only a couple of days ago three students died by suicide in coaching hub Kota due to stress".

"The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) schedule was released recently and the exam will be held in May. Then why can't the same be done for JEE? There should be uniformity for all entrance exams," Sahai stated.

The second edition of JEE-Main is scheduled to be conducted on April 6, 8, 10-12, 2023.

"Assam Boards practicals fare beginning from 25 January, Bihar Board practicals from 10 January, Telangana Boards practical from 20 January and JEE Main from 24-31 January. Aren't all these dates clashing with each other? Why cannot the government see," said Aditya Jha, an engineering aspirant.