New Delhi: Today is the D Day for thousands of students who aspire to be engineers and secure their futures by graduating India’s top technical colleges – the IIT’s. The JEE (Mains) will go up to the 6th of September, while on the 13th those who aspire to be doctors will take the NEET Exam. The holding of the exams was cleared by the Supreme Court last month and despite a last-minute challenge on Friday by six opposition ruled states and a letter by a student to the Chief Justice, the exams are slated to go ahead with masks and staggering seating in place. The Supreme Court said “careers of students cannot be put under jeopardy” and rejected a petition by 11 students from 11 different states to postpone the exam. “Life cannot be stopped. We have to move ahead with safeguards and all… Are students ready to waste one whole year? COVID may continue for a year more,” Justice Arun Mishra said.
Prepping for the big day the National Testing Agency (NTA), last week released an extensive list of guidelines and rules for students taking the exam. These include mandatory use of face masks and gloves, as well as carrying individual supplies of hand sanitizer and a water bottle. Candidates will be required to wash their hands with soap and water before entering the exam center. Nothing is mentioned about how the questionnaires will be sanitized though!
The NTA said the entrance to the exam center (and reporting times) will be staggered and that students will have to clear thermal scans. There will be “isolation rooms” for candidates whose body temperature is above a prescribed limit. The NTA has also sought a self-declaration that says candidates do not have any symptoms or suffer from COVID or have not been in touch with a COVID-positive person.
The NTA also said it has increased the number of exam centers to enable social distancing and had allowed a significant percentage of students their first choice of cities in which to take the exam, in order to minimize the inconvenience caused by travel during the pandemic.
As of 6 PM Monday over 12.75 lakh students had downloaded admit cards for NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Exam). A further 7.78 lakh students had downloaded the JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) admit cards. According to the NTA, the total number of students registered for NEET is nearly 16 lakh. Around 8.58 lakh have registered for JEE.
Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, among other governments, have assured students of transportation. According to news agency PTI, a group of IIT alumni and students have launched a portal to provide transport facilities for candidates in need.
