The JEE (Main) this year will be from July 18-23 while NEET will be held on July 26, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced on Tuesday, ending days of uncertainty for about 25 lakh candidates.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) had earlier deferred JEE Main 2020, which was to be conducted on April 5,7,8, and 11, to the last week of May.

A decision will soon be taken on the pending CBSE Class 10, 12 board exams, he added.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Union government announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the outbreak. Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24. The NEET and JEE exams were also postponed as the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic was extended.

"The plan is to conduct entrance examinations like NEET and JEE in June. But it is extremely important to keep reviewing the Covid-19 situation," a UGC official told PTI on April 25.

The NTA had earlier extended the date for correction of application of both the examinations till May 3.

The central government had taken this key decision on March 27 and had said that the JEE and NEET entrance exams would be postponed to the last week of May keeping in mind the nationwide lockdown. "Since parents and students have to travel to different examination centres, to avoid any inconvenience to them, I have directed the National Testing Agency to postpone NEET (UG) 2020 and JEE (Main) till last week of May," Pokhriyal had said in a tweet.