NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday released the attendance sheet for Joint Entrance Examinations (Main) that began on Tuesday.
The attendance for three days stood at 54.5%, 81% and 82 % (of the registered candidates) respectively.
On September 1, when the tests began, the examination was for B Architecture and B planning courses while tests for B Engineering and B Tech courses were held from September 2.
These tests that will conclude on September 6 and are being organised by the National Testing Agency under the Union Ministry of Education despite major resistance from students, guardians, students’ bodies and several opposition parties in view of the escalating coronavirus pandemic crisis.
The figures shared by the government show that overall, in the three days of the tests so far, 3,43,958 out of the 4,58, 521 registered candidates—or a little above 75 % of those who signed up for the examinations—actually appeared.
This marks a drop of about 15 % from the JEE (Main) conducted in January this year with the sharpest drop in those aspiring to pursue B Arch and B Planning courses.
The data released by the education ministry also gave a detailed shift wise and day wise break up (see box) of students who took the test, which is also screening for admission into the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology.
| No. of students registered | No. of students who appeared | Courses | Percentage |
| Day 1 - 1,12,247 | 61,366 | B Arch, B Planning | 54. 67 |
| Day 2- 1,74,350 | 1,41,371 | B.E., B Tech | 81.08 |
| Day 3 - 1,71,924 | 1,41,220 | B.E., B Tech | 82.14 |
| Overall - 1,45,8521 | 3,43,958 | - | 75.01 |
A total of 7,94, 741 students had downloaded the admit cards for the test.
“Heart whelming to see so many students participating in this Yagna to create aatma-nirbhar Bharat despite Covid 19 pandemic. I thank all Chief Ministers for their support to ensure that students' careers are not affected,'' tweeted Union education minister Ramesh Pokahriyal Nishank while releasing the attendance sheet for the examination.
Many CMs have been opposing JEE(Main) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance test which is to be held on September 13 and some have even publicly spoken about the hardships and confusion being faced by the students even after the tests began.
On Wednesday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had claimed that only 25 % of JEE aspirants in the state appeared for the test on Tuesday due to the Centre’s “adamant attitude of holding examination amid the coronavirus pandemic.”