Andhra Pradesh govt postpones all Common Entrance Tests in view of COVID- 19 situation

The Andhra Pradesh government has postponed the Common Entrance Tests, which are normally conducted in the month of May for admission into various professional and higher education courses, to September due to COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was taken at a meeting held to review coronavirus situation in the state by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Amaravati:The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday decided to put off all Common Entrance Tests (CET) for admission into various professional and higher education courses in view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation.

"After a review of the situation, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed that the CETs be postponed and, accordingly, we have decided to hold them in the third week of September. Fresh dates for these entrance examinations will be announced later," Education Minister A Suresh told reporters.

He pointed out that similar entrance examinations at the national level too were deferred because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The AP government, through the State Council of Higher Education, conducts EAMCET, ICET, PGCET, LawCET, EdCET and other entrance examinations for admission into courses like engineering, medicine, agriculture, business administration, law and also various post-graduate degrees.

These CETs are normally conducted in the month of May, but because of Common Entrance Tests, the schedule got disturbed this year.

Meanwhile, SRM University, AP also announced on Monday that its Joint Engineering Entrance Exam for admission into B. Tech programmes has been cancelled.

"In the light of challenges posed by COVID-19, and taking into account the safety concerns of students and parents, SRM Institute of Science and Technology has cancelled the SRM Joint Engineering Entrance Exam for B.Tech admissions 2020, that was planned in 127 Indian cities and five overseas centres in Dubai, Doha, Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait. The B.Tech admissions will now be based on plus-two intermediate marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics/Biology," the University said in a release here.

PTI