Ramesh Pokhriyal listed various steps taken by the NTA to ensure safety of the JEE and NEET aspirants, saying students’ safety is the government’s priority.
The National Testing Agency on Tuesday said that a number of steps have been taken to ensure that students take Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main and National Eligibility- cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in “a safe environment”, soliciting cooperation from the students and their parents.
Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, meanwhile, said that the government has decided to conduct the two entrance examinations following demands of the students and their parents.
“There has been a constant pressure of students and their parents on the ministry for conducting the exams. They were asking why the entrance tests were not being conducted. How long children will prepare for them. They do not want to lose the year,” he said in an interview to public broadcaster DD News.
He listed various steps taken by the NTA to ensure safety of the JEE and NEET aspirants, saying students’ safety is the government’s first priority, then their education.
The NTA has ensured that more than 99% candidates get their first choice of centre cities in both of these examinations.
“Just 450 students’ requests have now come for allotting examination centre of their choice. NTA is ready for this,” he added.
To ensure “proper social distancing” inside the examination halls, JEE Main candidates will be seated in alternate seats. “In case of NEET, the number of candidates per room has been reduced from earlier 24 to 12, now,” the NTA said in a statement.
For ensuring social distancing outside the examination halls, the entry and exit of candidates has been “staggered.”
The number of the examination centers have been increased from 570 to 660 for the JEE Main and 2,546 to 3,843 for the NEET, the NTA said.
For the JEE-Main, the number of shifts has been increased from the 8 to 12, and the number of candidates per shift has been reduced from 1.32 lakh to 85000 now.
“Adequate arrangements have also been made outside the examination centers to enable candidates stand with adequate social distancing, while waiting. Advisory has been issued to candidates guiding them about ‘Do’s and Don'ts’ for proper social distancing,” the testing agency added.
Besides, the NTA said that it has also written to the States governments to extend support in “local movement” of the JEE and NEET aspirants so that they are able to reach their examination centres on time.
The NTA is set to conduct the JEE-Main from September 1 to September 6 for National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other engineering colleges. The testing agency will conduct the NEET for undergraduate medical programmes on September 13.
As many as 8.58 lakh students have registered for JEE-Main while the number of students registered for the NEET is 15.97 lakh.
“The NTA assures all candidates a safe environment for tests and solicits cooperation from the candidates and their parents in following the standard operating procedures,” the testing agency said reaching out to students and parents amid growing demands for postponement of the two entrance exams.