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Order inside NEET exam halls, but many parents flout norms
The exam was conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to various medical courses and 15,97,433 candidates had registered to appear in it this year
The country’s most competitive medical entrance examination, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), was held in more than 3,800 centres across the country, with strict protocols necessitated by the pandemic, which had also led to the exam being postponed twice previously this year.
The exam was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to various medical courses and 15,97,433 candidates had registered to appear in it this year.
While the exam began at 2pm, students were asked to report at their respective examination centres in staggered slots from 11am onwards to avoid crowds at a single time in any centre. Outside centres, students were required to stand inside circles drawn on the ground and spaced five or six feet apart.
Candidates’ temperatures were checked before they were allowed into the centres, and upon entering, students were handed fresh face masks and asked to sanitise their hands. Examination halls were allowed to accommodate a maximum of 12 candidates at a time to allow social distance.
Students were not permitted to carry anything other than the admit card, ID cards, two passport-size photographs, a sanitiser and a transparent water bottle. The exam concluded at 5 pm.
Over 110 centres in the Capital were earmarked for the exam, and around 54,000 students were supposed to appear in it, with many travelling to the city from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Among the aspirants was Ankit Mehra, 17, who had taken a roadways bus from Haryana’s Rohtak district to his centre in Mayur Vihar. “I took an auto from the bus stand to my exam centre. I was initially scared because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Delhi, but I am satisfied with the arrangements made at the centre,” he said.
While many students travelled to the centres in private vehicles, some took taxis, while others used the Delhi Metro, which began operations early on Sunday, in view of the exam.
Shrishti Bansal, 18, a resident of Dilshad Garden, who used the Metro to travel to her centre in Rohini. “It was more convenient to take the Metro than a taxi. I was glad the service restarted operations before the exam, because we don’t own a vehicle,” she said.
Many students, however, said they had a tough time writing exams while wearing gloves.
Rubina Siddiqui, 18, a resident of Shankar Vihar, said, “It’s very challenging to write an exam while wearing a mask and gloves. It would have been better if the exam was being conducted on computers at the centres.”
Most students, however, said they were relieved the exam is now over.
Sweta Singh, 19, a resident of Lakshmi Nagar, said she had dropped a year to prepare for NEET. “I was getting very anxious because of the delay in the exam... I was waiting for this exam for the last 18 months, and am glad it’s finished now,” she said.
The NTA allowed in students with high body temperature, but no other Covid-19 symptoms.
At an examination centre in north Delhi’s Raj Niwas Road, special arrangements were made for a student after her temperature was recorded to be above the normal. “The student had no other symptoms. We made her sit and take the exam in a separate room,” an official at the centre said.
Meanwhile, many parents complained that social distancing was not maintained outside several examination centres. Ramesh Singh, a businessman from Narela whose daughter appeared in the exam at a centre in east Delhi, said, “There was so much crowd outside the exam centre at around 5pm. Many parents were not even wearing masks. People continued to gather there despite officials trying to disperse crowds and requesting parents to keep a distance.”
Similar concerns were raised by parents from an examination centre in Narela.
Amit Sehgal, father of an 18-year-old aspirant, said, “My son was satisfied with the management inside the exam centre, but the crowd management outside was very poor. There was a sea of parents outside the centre in the evening, with no proper distancing maintained.”
