KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Social distancing and COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) went for a toss outside several centres in the state, especially in Kochi, where the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS and BDS courses was held on Sunday.
Officials, however, said parents and others accompanying examinees maintained social distancing measures to an extend at exam centres in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. More than 15.65 lakh aspirants across the country took the exam, which was held in a single shift on Sunday, from 2pm to 5pm.
Of the 1,27,592 students enrolled for NEET, 1,08,787 candidates appeared for the exam in 324 centres spread across Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur districts.
In Kochi, students and parents were seen crowding outside the exam centres, ignoring COVID protocol, which required people to maintain social distancing, among other safety precautions.
"Parents must not crowd in front of the school building," a police officer screamed at the top of her voice. "Just pray for your children. They are safe in the school building. Come back at 5pm," she told the parents of NEET examinees in front of Toc H Public School.
However, many turned a deaf ear to her and continued crowding outside the gate, watching their wards move inside the building.
Though masks clung on to most of their faces, they slipped a little below noses in some cases. "I was a bit scared. My son has been preparing for this for years. I was hoping that no postponement happens. After all, his life mustn’t have a hindrance," said a parent, echoing a sentence by a Supreme Court judge who dismissed a plea that sought the exam’s postponement.
All was well inside the exam centre. Students stood in marked squares, their temperatures checked upon entrance and given hand sanitisers. But sadly, this wasn’t the case outside the centre.
Queues that extended over a kilometre had students standing quite close to each other, waiting for their turn to enter the hall. One wouldn’t guess that the pandemic wasn’t contained, if not for the masks on their faces and the bottles of hand sanitisers in their hands.
When pointed out that no social distancing was maintained outside the gate, a police officer said: "The school management should have thought about it. You can’t blame it on us."
"What can we do? We have been asking them to maintain social distancing since the beginning," said another police officer. "We’ve been managing the traffic. You can direct the traffic well, but not people. You can’t push them aside," he said.