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Experts in Pune welcome government’s decision of opening over 300 centres to aid students for online exams
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has launched 3,404 test practice centres (TPCs) across the 662 districts of the country, where one can register and practice the CBT, free of cost.
Students preparing for JEE (Main) and UGC-NET examinations, will now have the opportunity to hone their skills with the help of special test practice centers (TPCs) set up across the country, where they can register and practice the computer based test (CBT), free of cost.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has launched 3,404 test practice centres (TPCs) across the 662 districts of the country, where one can register and practice the CBT, free of cost.
Applauding the move by the central government, city experts said that it can largely benefit students, especially in the rural areas as opposed to the urban students, who have more access to smartphones, computers and the internet.
Another former IITian and founder director of Bakliwal Tutorials, Vaibhav Bakliwal said, “In the remote areas of the country, a bulk of students do not have access to the kind of facilities that urban students have. But with the initiative in place, these students also get similar facilities.”
Under this initiative, the central government is going to make, over 2.72 lakh computers available for the free practice tests. Maharashtra will have more than 300 centres.
Also, a special mobile app has been launched by NTA for students to practice the test on their computers or smart phones.
“Such a test gives the students scope to become familiar with the format and process of the examination, much prior to the actual test. The key is to understand and practice basic fundamentals of the subjects and appear for as many mock tests as possible,” said DC Pandey, a prominent educator and author of a number of Physics books.
On September 8 and 9, the NTA had organised a trial run for the mock tests, with 2,452 candidates practicing at 96 TPCs across the country.
On September 16, Prakash Javadekar, union HRD minister, using Google Hangout interacted with 1,993 aspirants from
25 centres in 16 states, to get the feedback and also, stated that the students can access IIT PAL (professor assisted learning) video lectures on the online platform Swayam, to bolster their JEE preparations.
In order to set up TPCs, the NTA is currently reaching out to schools and colleges with 30 or more internet-connected PCs or laptops in a single location.
For now, there are a total of 689 test practice centers in Kendriya Vidyalayas and 403 in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country. Students interested to appear for the exams, can register themselves online either through the NTA student app or the NTA website, and access it at their homes or the centers.