According to data released by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, 4 September, nearly 115,000 were unable to appear for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE Mains) in the first three days, highlighting the fear among students to contract COVID-19 and their urge to postpone the exam.
The figures released by Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” in a tweet, indicate that while 458,521 students has registered to sit for the exams, only 3,43,958 appeared at the exam centres, signalling a 25 percent drop in attendance.
The data shows that Day 1 of JEE Mains exam saw only 54.67 attendance at exam centres. Low attendance numbers were witness across states like Gujarat and Assam, which reported only 55 percent and 50 percent attendance on the first day of the JEE Exam.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, 3 September, said that 75 percent of the state’s JEE Mains 2020 candidates could not take the exam on Tuesday.
Day 2 and Day 3 showed an improvement in attendance of 81 percent and 82 percent respectively.
According to the National Testing Agency, which conducts the JEE Mains exam each, Tuesday’s low numbers were representative of students choosing to focus on the BTech and NEET UG exams and low numbers on the first day of JEE Mains have been seen in the past as well.
The National Students Union of India (NSUI) on Wednesday, 2 September, slammed the central government over the attendance, saying many students missed the exam due to hasty move and lack of planning to provide necessary basic arrangements and demanded re-examination.
The Supreme Court will on Friday, 4 September, consider a review petition filed by six Opposition-ruled states requesting the apex court to reconsider and revisit its earlier judgment, in which it had dismissed a petition calling for the postponement of JEE Main and NEET UG.
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