10-15% more students skipped test: NTA official
Despite all-round protests, the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Mains for admission to IITs and NITs took place on Tuesday amid stringent precautions and social distancing measures in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Staggered entry and exit for candidates, sanitisers at the gate, distribution of masks, and maintaining social distancing as candidates queued up, were some of the measures at the exam centres across the country. But several States reported that candidates faced difficulties in reaching centres due to heavy rain and lack of conveyance facilities.
Education Secretary Amit Khare said JEE was conducted smoothly all over the country. “I would like to thank all the State Governments and officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the smooth conduct of the examination,” Khare told The Pioneer.
A senior NTA official said about “10-15 per cent” more students skipped test this year.
There has been a decline in JEE aspirants in 2020 with 8,58,273 registering as compared to 9,35,741 in 2019.
The West Bengal Government had earlier opposed the Centre’s decision to conduct JEE during Covid times as students would be exposed to the pandemic.
In West Bengal, the Government had asked all State transport utilities to commence bus services from 5 am in view of the exam, but several candidates in North 24 Parganas, Berhampur, Malda and Siliguri claimed that they had to wait for hours, braving downpour, to get a bus to reach their test centres. Suspension of local train services due to the COVID-19 pandemic added to the woes of the candidates.
State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said that he would no longer comment on the matter as the Centre has entrusted the NTA to take necessary measures for the safety of the students.
Exams at other Centres across the country passed off peacefully on the first day including Bihar, but about 45 per cent students skipped the JEE in Gujarat amid the Corona pandemic. A senior NTA official said the percentage of students skipping the test stood at 25-30 per cent in earlier years and the current figure was “10-15 per cent” more.
In Delhi, a strike by Ola and Uber drivers caused problems for students appearing for the exam. Amid strict enforcement of COVID-19 protocols in Odisha, students appeared for the JEE while in Jharkhand too, the JEE exam was conducted “peacefully” at exam centres in five cities.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), for admission to medical and dental colleges, is scheduled to be held later this month. The next JEE slot till September 6 will also follow the same pattern and the Centre anticipates that problem will be eased out more for all the stakeholders as almost all the States and UTs have finally extended their cooperation.
“Hand sanitisers were made available at the entrance of the examination centre and inside the exam hall at all times. The usual process of checking the admit cards of candidates has been replaced with barcode readers, which have been made available to the examination centre authorities,” said an NTA official.
The first shift of the exam took place at 9.30 am while the second shift at 2.30 pm. Over 9 lakh candidates have registered for the JEE-Mains exam for admission to engineering courses in IITs, NITs and Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs).
Based on the results of the JEE-Mains Paper 1 and Paper 2, the top 2.45 lakh candidates will be eligible to appear for the JEE-Advanced exam, which is a one-stop exam to get admission into the 23 premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). JEE-Advanced is scheduled to take place on September 27.
Increasing the number of examination centres, alternate seating plans, fewer candidates per room and staggered entry and exit were among the steps for safe conduct of the crucial exam.
While the Governments of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand extended students transport facility, a group of IIT alumni and students also launched a portal to provide transport facilities to exam centres for the candidates in need.