NEW DELHI: Making it clear that it won't further postpone competitive examinations, the government on Friday said that over 75 % students who had registered for the Joint Entrance Examination (Main), scheduled between September 1 and 6, have already downloaded their admit cards.
This, said the government sources, is an indication that the majority of the students want the examination to be conducted as per the plan.
In a note, issued by the National Testing Agency under the Union education ministry, which is organising both JEE (Main) and NEET, authorities said that out of a total of 8,58,273 candidates for JEE (Main) 6,49,223 candidates have downloaded their admit cards.
JEE(Main) is also the screening test for admission into the Indian Institutes of Technology for which JEE(Advanced), set to be held on September 26 this year, is the final test.
The clarification from the Centre comes amid rising pressure to defer these examinations with Covid-19 cases rising. The Supreme Court, earlier this week, had dismissed a petition to get these tests, which determine the future of lakh of students, postponed.
The note circulated by the government on Friday also said that among JEE(Main) aspirants, 99.07% candidates have been given their first choice and so far, only 120 candidates have requested for a change in centre cities allotted to them, which is being looked into sympathetically.
It added that in order to help the candidates, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Testing Agency had provided an option to candidates of JEE (Main) to change their centre cities five times, and 63,931 candidates had availed this benefit.
Similarly, in NEET, the option for candidates to change their centre cities was given five times, and about 95,000 candidates have availed the facility.
The admit cards for entrance into medical and dental colleges, which is planned for September 13, are scheduled to be released in a few days.
Out of the total of 15,97,433 candidates who have signed up for NEET, 99.87 % candidates are being given the first choice when it comes to the city they have preferred, said the government.
It also stressed that elaborate arrangements have been made to sanitise the centres before and after the conduct of the examinations, give fresh masks and, on-demand hand gloves based on the comprehensive guidelines for centre management in view of COVID-19 pandemic.
These guidelines have been made on the lines of the standard operating procedures, issued by the education ministry.
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