Lack of affordable transportation to far away exam centres and no seating arrangements for guardians outside centres have kept JEE Mains aspirants on the edge in Ranchi since the beginning of the examinations on September 1, but the pressure performing well in the tests have kept them going in the midst of a global pandemic.
Many examinees preferred facing the odds instead of losing a year of their academic career. Aditya Kumar, a Ranchi resident who appeared for the exam on Day One of the six-day exams, said that losing a year would be worse than facing difficulties in the process of appearing for the exams. “I have my own car, so reaching the exam centre was not a problem for me. Students who do not have their own vehicle might have faced problems. However, I am sure that no student would want to lose a year despite the challenges they have faced for appearing in the exams,” he said.
Parents and local guardians of the examinees have been sharing their stress. Dhananjay Kumar, a resident of Nalanda in Bihar, covered 300 kilometre on his motorcycle to bring his daughter to Ranchi on Day Two of the exams as buses were not plying. The 12-hour-long journey was taxing on his body, but he could not let his daughter lose a year.
Despite covering long distances on two-wheelers and cabs, many parents were not even provided a place to sit while their children appeared for the exams amid strict Covid-19 precautionary measures. Patratu resident Vishal Prasad, who booked a cab to bring his sister to Ranchi for the JEE exams, said guardians had to face a tough time outside the centres. “There was no seating arrangement. Even tea stalls and eateries were closed, so spending three hours in the sun was quite a challenge,” he said.
Aarti Srivastava, a resident of Simaliya in Ranchi, said the administration should have at least arranged for a tent for guardians as frequent downpours were expected in Ranchi during this time of the year. “Exam centres are so far away from the city. There are no eateries around and we don’t even have a place to sit,” said Aarti, who brought her son to the exam centre by a pre-booked cab.
Around 23,000 students are appearing for the ongoing exams in eight centres across five cities in Jharkhand. There are two centres each in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad and one centre each in Bokaro and Hazaribagh.
In wake of Covid-19, loudspeakers were installed at an examination centre in Tupudana here to remind students about maintaining social distancing. Besides, circles were also marked at the entry to ensure students do not come close to each other.
Examinees were also provided triple-layer masks at the centres and asked to remove the masks that they were wearing when they left home. The body temperature of all the examinees was checked using a thermal scanner. A separate isolation room was also set up for those students who showed symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
Despite all the precautionary measures, as many as 190 students missed the first sitting of the exam at the Tupudana centre on Day One. However, there was no clarity on whether they missed the exams owing to the fear of Covid-19 infection or due to other reasons.
“I don’t think missing the exam is an option. We can bear with lockdown restrictions and other challenges, but appearing for the exam was paramount,” said Abishek Anand, an examinee from Kanke Road in Ranchi.
Days before the JEE Mains began, chief minister Hemant Soren conducted a poll on Twitter in which around 78 per cent participants voted in favour of postponing the exam. Ministers from at least six non-BJP ruled states, including Jharkhand, had also knocked at the door of the Supreme Court seeking postponement of the exams owing to risk of Covid-19 infection among students.
