New Delhi, August 27: The National Testing Agency (NTA) is set to hold the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on September 13 and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) from September 1 to 6, despite opposition from several quarters. Ahead of the exams, NTA Director General Vineet Joshi has reiterated that postponing NEET and JEE 2020 will "seriously hamper" the academic calendar, adding that a lot of preventive measures have been taken for the safety of students. NEET, JEE 2020: Subramanian Swamy Tweets 'Conducting Exams Will Be Giant Mistake Like Nasbandi of Indira Gandhi'.

"Shifting of the exam involves huge logistical exercise. Thousands of centres are to be contacted again for their availability. Also availability of supervisors and invigilators, movements of tonnes of materials and equipment like jammers and CCTV cameras are involved. It takes close to 75-80 days. If it is postponed again, it will have a serious effect on the academic calendar," Joshi told TOI. He assured that the complete process from entry to exit of candidates will be contact-less in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Keeping in view the Covid-19 situation and the government’s guidelines on social distancing, we have increased the number of rooms. For NEET-UG not more than 12 candidates will be seated in a room. For JEE (Main), since it is computer-based, candidates will be seated on alternately numbered computers. The computers used in the first shift will not be used in the second shift. In order to ensure social distancing as well as safety, we have increased the number of invigilators as well," the NTA chief explained.

A slew of guidelines has been issued for candidates appearing for the NEET and JEE in September. Among the instructions, students must wear face masks and hand gloves during the exams. Here it may be noted that students will have to remove the mask worn by him or her from home, and "use the mask provided at centre only". Also, they have been asked to carry a personal bottle of water and hand sanitizer to the exam centre.

In order to maintain social distancing and prevent crowding at examination centres, candidates will be given staggered time slots for entry at exam centres. "We have ensured crowd management before and after the exam. For the candidates, we have allotted staggered reporting time. Say there are 150 candidates at a centre, we have separated them into groups and they will report in a gap of 30 to 40 minutes. There will be queue managers at the entry and candidates will be made to stand at demarcated areas to ensure social distancing," Joshi said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2020 08:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).