Citing rising cases of coronavirus as a reason, the Minister of Higher Education and Technical Education, Maharashtra,Uday Samant, reported through a tweet that the state had postponed several CET entrance exams. The entrance test will be held as soon as the situation improves. As a consequence, the latest dates for these tests are yet to be confirmed.

This decision is likely to have an impact on more than 5 lakh students across the state who attend different entrance exams. Maharashtra CET for the recruitment of undergraduates was scheduled to take effect on July 4, that, too, is being delayed.

For every single lakh population, there are 30,04 cases of coronavirus in India, as stated by the Ministry of Health. India has witnessed over 4,25 lakh cases so far andMaharashtra was among the highest number of cases in India.

Several students expressed concern about carrying out these tests in the midst of the pandemic. These students have returned to the Minister’s tweet with messages of gratitude.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government also canceled the completion of the final year exams. The state has provided students with the opportunity to take part in the exams at a later stage, in case they are not satisfied with the score given through internal assessment. This, too, was announced after a few days of online protest by students, teachers, and parents.

Meanwhile, the High Court of Mumbai also asked the State and Center to decide on pending CISCE board examinations which were to begin on 1 July. CISCE has given students the choice to appear for the exams and those who do not wish to attend the CISCE examination will be awarded marks on the basis of an internal assessment.