JEE aspirants wonder how to reach, how safe will it be Covid, Curbs, Floods & Lack Of Transport Worry Students

JEE aspirants wonder how to reach, how safe will it be

Covid, Curbs, Floods & Lack Of Transport Worry Students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

27.08.2020

After months of uncertainty over when they will finally be able to get done with their careerdefining exams, JEE and NEET aspirants are still unsure of two things — how they will get to their exam centre and how safe it will be.

Calls to postpone the exams have been trending on social media for two days now — climate activist Greta Thunberg and actor Sonu Sood are among those who have amplified the demand. Students, meanwhile, are concerned. “I live in Idaratganj and my centre is in Varanasi, nearly 130km away. Where I live is a containment zone. How am I supposed to get there? Will it be safe?” asked Shriyansh Jaiswal, a NEET-UG aspirant.

Parents from outside Chennai, have urged the Tamil Nadu government to ask hotels to open bookings for those travelling for the exams. They also want a transport plan. “The NTA and state transport departments could coordinate a plan for the day,” said N Vijayan, principal of a Chennai school. The process could be streamlined.

But this is a limited possibility in some cities. In Telangana, incessant rain for the past two weeks has damaged road connectivity to many districts. It’s the same in the flood-hit areas of Assam and Bihar. “Many students who take the exam in Bengal come from Bihar and Jharkhand,” Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee told the media. The state has kept the exam dates out of the total lockdown schedule.

As for safety, the broad guidelines have been laid down by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exams — fresh masks at the entrance, thermal screening, sanitisers, social distancing and separate rooms for those with Covid-19 symptoms. But those appearing are still worried, and not all states have notified any. The Assam health department, for instance, is yet to announce rules for applicants from containment zones. Goa has not come up with specific guidelines either. UP, too, will follow the central directives.

And space remains a concern. Odisha has exam centres in just seven cities, bound to lead to larger gatherings. Assam, too, is facing a challenge in finding more exam centres.

Some have come up with workarounds. “We will separate outstation students so that the post-exam exit strategy is in place,” said a principal at a school in Nagpur. In Kerala too, all applicants will have to contact their exam centre before time and inform them if they are coming from a containment zone, a hotspot or are yet to finish quarantine. Rajasthan — where all six districts which will host NEET and JEE exams have been witnessing a surge in Covid cases — has mandated buffer areas near exam centres.