Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Tuesday announced the dates of NEET and IIT-JEE examinations which had been postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

The NEET exam will be held on July 26 while the IIT-JEE (Main) examination will be held on 18, 20, 21, 22, and 23 July. The IIT-JEE (Advanced) examination will be held in August this year and the date will be announced later.

NEET is the qualifying test for MBBS and BDS programs in Indian medical and dental colleges. It is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) while the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) is for admission into the premier IITs.

The minister added that the decision on the pending Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10th and 12th board exams will be taken soon. The minister made the announcement during an online interaction with students across the country.

For the next academic year, students will take the exams based on a reduced syllabus. The HRD minister informed that the syllabus will be reduced for the upcoming academic session as students have lost valuable academic time. This suggestion had been first made by Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia. Over nine lakh students have been awaiting the JEE Main exam date while 15.93 lakh have applied for NEET 2020.