For NEET, students beat Covid fear

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 13

Over 5,000 aspirants from the district appeared for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) at five different centres on Sunday.

Students evinced mixed response towards the conduct of the exam that was held in the midst of rising Covid cases in the state. Many aspirants covered long distances to arrive at their respective centre.

While a major chunk of students, after attending their exam, said it was good that the exam was held despite opposition by several students and non-BJP-ruled states, parents waiting outside the examination centres displayed their anger towards the government for holding the exam amid the pandemic.

Traffic hit

Hundreds of guardians and parents of students kept waiting outside till the exam got over, thereby hindering traffic. Chaos was witnessed as soon as the exam got over. Most of the students were accompanied by their guardians only.

The cops deployed outside the centres even warned parents of legal action if they didn't follow social distancing. Sub Inspector Jugal Kishore, who was managing the security outside at the HMV College, which is one of the NEET centres, said: “Over a dozen cops were deployed to manage the rush. As per the guidelines, stickers were pasted on the road for maintaining gap between students. Before entering the college, they were properly sanitised and none was granted entry sans face mask. Loudspeakers were also given to examiners to make announcements and give directions to parents and students.”

Difficulty-level: 'Moderate'

After attempting the exam, students had mixed opinion regarding the question paper. Neha, who had come from Adampur, said: “Though after the much dillydallying, the Central government eventually conducted the exam, we were expecting it to be simple. We thought the difficulty level would somehow be taken care of but nothing of that sort happened. As compared to the last year's question paper, it was equally tough. Our preparations were interrupted after the subsequent postponing of the exam. Luckily, the biology part was easy, which will help me in getting through.”

Similarly, Vikas, who had attempted the question paper for the first time, said: “While physics and bio part was easy, the questions from chemistry were moderate. I was happy to appear for the exam.”

Harpreet Kaur, who had come from Phagwara, said: “The question paper was set on the format of 2018 question paper and was not that tough, nor was it so easy. It was my second attempt and I am hoping to clear it.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• The district coordinators of the examination said total 500 teachers (two teachers per classroom) were assigned duties to ensure the smooth conduct of the exam.
• There was no curfew on Sunday.
• After reporting at their centres, around 11 am, students attempted the paper at 2 pm, which went on for three hours.
• Students also signed a self-declaration form mentioning their health updates. Besides, a medical room was also created at each centre for any emergency.
• A special security agency was hired by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to check students as per the Covid-19 guidelines.

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