JEE, NEET 2020: Guidelines issued for students appearing for Sept exams

As the examinations for JEE, NEET 2020 are schedule to take place in the month of September, the examination regulator issued several guidelines for students appearing for the competitive examinations in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"NTA has carried out detailed deliberations to formulate guidelines for the various controls / measures that are required to be implemented on the day of the exam at each Examination Centres," the notification stated.

The fresh guidelines came after the NTA issued admit cards for the two exams scheduled to be held in September.

Among the instructions, students need not mandatorily need to wear face mask and hand gloves while giving the exams, but they are instructed to carry a personal bottle of water and hand sanitizer to the exam centre as well as maintain social distancing. apart from these items, only the Admit Card will be allowed inside the examination centre. However, the candidate will be required to remove the mask worn by him or her from home, and "use the mask provided at centre only".

To avoid crowd at the examination centre entrance due to candidates reaching together, they will be given staggered time slots for reporting. The staggering of time slots will be done to ensure uniform distribution of candidates across rooms during entry at the examination centres.

Candidates need to maintain a space of at least 6 feet from each other at all time.

However, each exam centre will also have the provision of "isolation rooms" for those candidates whose body temperature is above 99.4 degrees.

A prior communication on this process of staggered entry will be shared with the candidates through admit card and through SMS.

All processes such as frisking, verification of documents will be done inside the Registration Room.

The candidate will display the admit card, ID proof and other documents, if any for verification to the Invigilator on duty standing across the table.

Post-verification, the



Invigilator will locate Candidate’s seat in the seat allocation list and inform candidate about his/her room number. At any point of time the exam functionary would not touch any document of the candidate.

Before entering the exam hall, each student will have to wash their hands with soap and water and hand sanitizers will be available at various locations at the centre.

50% of the Invigilators will be assigned to work inside the rooms, and 50% will monitor the entry outside the gate and registration room until the last candidate has taken their place inside the examination room/hall.

On completion of exam, the candidates should be permitted to move out in an orderly manner – One candidate at a time, the notification stated.

The gloves and masks should be disposed of in a pedal push covered bin at the Examination Centre and outside the examination room/hall only

Required distance will be maintained without crowding anywhere.

Volunteers will be present along the exit path to ensure orderly movement of candidates.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the notifications do not specify the rules and SOPs for students who live in containment zones and need to appear for the examination.

As per the public notices issued by NTA, JEE (Main) April 2020 is scheduled from September 1-6, while NEET UG 2020 exam is scheduled for September 13.

Meanwhile, the chorus for postponing various examinations, including NEET and JEE, grew louder in view of rising Covid-19 cases. The crowd grew louder with political leaders such as Congress' Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee and others urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Education Minster to postpone the competitive exams during the pandemic.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since 16 March when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. A nationwide lockdown was imposed on 25 March to contain the virus spread.