Northlines Correspondent
Jammu Tawi | Sep 1: After being postponed twice, the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main commenced today across the nation including Jammu with strict Covid-19 related guidelines and precautions. The first shift examination began at 9 am and the students were seen arriving at the exam centre, Chenab College of Education in Jammu, since early morning.
The engineering aspirants were allowed to enter the exam centre one by one while maintaining social distancing norms. Circles were drawn at the entrance in order to guide the students to maintain proper distancing while entering the exam hall.
Thermal screening of students was done before their entry to the centre. Separate space for keeping belongings was kept at the gate. Touchless hand sanitisers were also made available at the gate so that students could sanitise their hands before appearing for the exam.
Meanwhile, speaking to agencies, some engineering aspirants supported government's decision to hold the exam while others felt that the exams should have been postponed.
“It was important to conduct the exams. There is no other option to get admission in colleges. Exams should be held with all the SOPs and rules,” Abhinandan Bhardwaj, a student from Udhampur informed outside the exam hall.
“Government has taken the right decision. Our precious academic year should be saved,” Saurabh Kumar, an engineering aspirant said.
“It is not the right thing to conduct the exams in the times of a pandemic. What if students get infected?” another student said.
“I didn't face any problem in reaching the exam centre. My father dropped me. This exam should have been postponed. Students may get infected,” Dahita, a student said.
On the other hand, the opinion of the parents accompanying the students was also divided on this issue. “We are very scared. We want the safety of our children. There is an element of fear in our mind. Hope all goes well,” said a parent.
“I think, JEE exam is very important. It was important to conduct the exams so that academic year of the students don't get wasted,” said the father of a student.
As per officials, 462 candidates were supposed to appear in the exams in Jammu on Tuesday. The total number of students who actually appeared in the JEE Main exam was not released at the time of filing of this report.
