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Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
Video Producer: Aliza Noor
Over 14 lakh students took the NEET 2020 entrance examination on 13 September, amid a lot of protests and calls for its postponement. I was one of those students. However, the very next day I had high fever. I got tested for COVID-19 on 18 September and the test report returned positive.
My experience of taking the exam was not good. There was a lack of safety protocols at my centre in Vadodara. However, what transpired after was worse as my grandfather, sister, brother and uncle also tested positive for COVID-19.
While I am now making a full recovery, I can’t help but wonder if my ordeal (and perhaps many others’) could have been avoided had the NTA postponed the exam to a later date.
Prior to the exam, when we got our admit cards, there was an undertaking form wherein we had to tick boxes regarding our visit to any place in the last 14 days, or if we came in close contact with any COVID-19 positive person.
Along with it, the NTA guidelines were also attached but nowhere was it mentioned whether testing will be done or not.
There could have also been a suggestion for students to quarantine strictly after or undergo a test, given the exposure.
On the day of the exam, students were called in batches to the centre to avoid crowding. When it came to social distancing, guidelines were followed outside the centre. However, they should have been followed inside the centre as well, which they were not.
All that was done was a temperature check. Although our hands were sanitised, there was no sanitising tunnel.
Ultimately, when you're giving a national level examination on an empty stomach and stomach-ache, and then you have to give the paper, it is very difficult.
I got tested on 18 September, as my doctor thought I probably just had viral fever.
As soon as I tested positive, on the same day, I tweeted for the students and invigilators to get tested too, just in case they had contracted the virus as well.
Therefore, the conduction of the exams could have been done in a better manner. This is also why we had called for a postponement, as there was no need to rush.
My experience after that was rocky.
In our seven days of quarantine, the experience was good at the facility. There was nothing to complain about it. The staff members were also quite cooperative.
Presently, I have seven more days of home quarantine to complete.
There might be people who don't have the facility or enough money to go through the treatment. The NTA should have factored in all this.
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