#MODIJIextendNEETUG trends on Twitter with more than 2 million tweets

The demand to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is gaining traction among students on Twitter. While requests have been made for the last week, students today, on June 27, used the hashtag #MODIJIextendNEETUG in a bid to get the exam pushed back by 40 days. The hashtag has gained 2.27 million tweets. The NEET-UG exam is scheduled for July 17.

So what exactly are the students demanding under this hashtag? According to Pradeep Rawat, founder of the Gurgaon Parents' Association, the demand of the students to postpone the exam by 40 days will not impact the beginning of the academic year for undergraduate courses, which is being planned for January 2023. 

"If they push the exam by 40 days to the start of September, they can still release the results within a couple of weeks, as they did for NEET-PG. This could still mean that even with counselling lasting a couple of months, the academic year can still begin in January 2023," explains Pradeep. 

Students have been highlighting the jampacked schedule in place for exam in July, with the Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana scheduled around the same dates as the Common Universities Entrance Test (CUET), NEET-UG and the JEE Mains. Parents believe that the situation is causing stress and trauma for students. 

One student shared a news clipping that reported a 19-year-old had died by suicide, apparently unable to take the pressure of NEET-UG exam, for which she was preparing. Sharing the clipping, the student said, "This happened right next to my relatives' house. As per this.. it very difficult and pressurising us. Please give us 40 days. @DG_NTA #MODIJIextendNEETUG"

The President of the National Students' Union of India, the student body of the Congress party also addressed a letter to the Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. He also cited the clash of exams in July and said that the delay in issuing the notice of the exam date had put the students under a lot of pressure. He also mentioned the delay in the counselling process for the 2022 academic year and said,  "There might be many students who do not get a seat in previous session's counselling. Therefore, it is unfair that the next exam is done in such a hurry."

The latest campaign on Twitter is in a bid to get the attention of the government and convince them to reschedule the NEET-UG exam. Similar efforts were undertaken by students writing the NEET-PG exam and their demands had gone unheard.