NEET 2020: 14.37 lakh students out of 15.97 who registered attempted exam, says Pokhriyal

A day after NEET 2020 was conducted, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that out of 15.97 lakh registered candidates, 14.37 lakh students appeared in NEET examinations. NEET was originally scheduled for May 3, but was pushed to July 26, and then to September 13 considering the pandemic situation.

The Central government had faced a lot of criticism for conducting NEET exams amid the coronavirus pandemic. People who opposed alleged that many students couldn't prepare for the exam. Justifying the conduction of the exams, Pokhriyal said that the cancellation of exams would have wasted the year for the students.

"Out of 15.97 lakh registered candidates, 14.37 lakh students appeared in NEET examinations. Some people were raising questions over the conduct of the examinations but we knew that students didn't want one year to go waste," said Pokhriyal.

Pokhriyal Nishank on Sunday had thanked Chief Ministers of all states and National Testing Agency (NTA). A total of 15.97 lakh students have registered for the pen and paper-based test. Pokhriyal had apprised about the 85-90% student participation and further said that participation reflects the tenacity and grit of the young students.

READ: Tamil Nadu Assembly begins amidst demand by DMK to ban NEET

'Staggered entry and exit of candidates'

"For ensuring social distancing outside examination halls, a staggered entry and exit of candidates has been planned. Adequate arrangements have also been made outside examination centres to enable candidates stand with adequate social distancing while waiting," a senior NTA official said.

The Candidates have also been issued an advisory guiding them about the 'dos and don'ts' for proper social distancing. NTA has also written to the state governments to extend support in local transportation of the candidates so that they are able to reach their examination centres in time, the official added.

READ: Bihar boy travels 700 km to reach NEET centre, misses exam by 10 minutes

Steps taken by NTA to conduct safe examination

Some of the major steps taken by the testing agency to conduct safe examination include; making hand sanitisers available at the entrance of the examination centre and inside the exam hall at all times, increasing the number of examination centres, replacing the process of checking the admit cards of candidates with barcode readers, alternate seating plans, fewer candidates per room and staggered entry and exit.

All the candidates are asked to come to the exam centres with masks and sanitisers and once they enter the centre, they will have to use the masks provided by the examination authority, NTA said. "Each candidate will be offered a three-ply mask at the time of entry and are expected to wear the same during the examination in order to avoid any form of unfair means at the time of examination," the official added.

READ: 'NEET deprives students of their dreams,' say DMK netas as they protest outside Parliament

READ: NEET 2020: Education Minister Pokhriyal thanks CMs & NTA; hails grit of young students