Relief for IIT aspirants affected by pandemic, as those who missed JEE Advanced 2020 can write the exam in 2021  

IIT aspirants who missed their chance to write JEE (Advanced) this year will get another shot at it. A Joint Admission Board (JAB) meeting was held on Tuesday evening at IIT Delhi and they decided to allow students to attempt the exam one more time in 2021. “To address the concerns of the affected candidates, while avoiding prejudice to other candidates, it has been decided to allow all the candidates, who had successfully registered to appear in JEE Advanced 2020 but were absent in the exam, to appear in JEE (Advanced) 2021, as a one-time measure,” the statement said. 

Moreover, they will not have to qualify for JEE (Mains) 2021 and can directly appear for the exam, on the basis of their 2020 registration. This is in addition to the proportionate relaxation of the age bar.

Along with a demand for postponement, a large number of students, parents and academics were demanding an extra attempt, owing to COVID-19 and related restrictions. This year, around one lakh students of 2.5 lakh had missed the exam. Recently, the Supreme Court had allowed students who missed NEET — either after contracting COVID or getting stuck in containment zones — to write the exam on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday, a group of 11 students had sent a letter to the HRD Minister, requesting this. They said that a lot of them could not attend the exam, owing to the lockdown, COVID and floods.