With the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) not allocating any centre in Kota for the All India Pre-medical Test (AIPMT) re-examination, over 35,000 medical aspirants from the coaching hub have started travelling to other cities to take the test on Saturday.
When the medical entrance test was held in Kota for the first time on May 3 this year, around 11,803 aspirants had taken the test at 22 examination centres. The test was, however, cancelled by the Supreme Court in June after reports of paper leak and cheating emerged. After the apex court ordered a retest, the CBSE dropped Kota from the list of AIPMT re-examination centres.
Now, over 35,000 medical aspirants, taking coaching in the eastern district, have been allotted examination centre in Ajmer, the second exam centre in the state, besides Jaipur.
While several candidates took buses to reach Ajmer (it takes over eight hours to reach Ajmer from Kota by bus) on Friday, some coaching institutes have made special travel arrangement for aspirants. The Allen Career Institute too made arrangements for nine buses and seven cars to take 475 women aspirants to Ajmer, director of the institute Brajesh Maheshwari told HT.
Anita Chandel, who will be taking the test on Saturday in Ajmer, said while applying for the test she had opted for Kota as her examination centre. “Now I will have to go all the way to Ajmer for the retest as this time Kota was not made an examination centre…I will start for Ajmer today (Friday) to report at the examination centre on time,” she told HT before departing.
Anita Chandel, who will be taking the test on Saturday in Ajmer, said while applying for the test she had opted for Kota as her examination centre. “Now I will have to go all the way to Ajmer for the retest as this time Kota was not made an examination centre…I will start for Ajmer today (Friday) to report at the examination centre on time,” she told HT before departing.
Although the CBSE has not issued any clarification behind dropping Kota as an AIPMT centre, but the popularity of the city as the coaching hub could have acted against it. However, CBSE Kota coordinator Pradeep Singh Gaur said: “No reason has been given for dropping Kota as an AIPMT re-examination centre.”