On a day when ministers from 6 state governments, including Maharashtra, Bengal, Punjab and Rajasthan, filed a petition for review stating that SC did not consider the safety of students taking the JEE and NEET exams, the government of Naveen Patnaik announced that it would provide free transportation and accommodation. to the 37,000 students in the state who would write the test.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said that if any of the 37,000 state candidates who would write the exams need transportation and lodging, the state government will provide them. “The government will provide buses to transport candidates from their hometown to designated entry points. But students must apply for government facilities before August 31, ”Tripathy said.
The government said students should inform nearby nodal centers and that arrangements will be made for their free stay at polytechnics, engineering universities and ITI. In each district, an ITI has been created as a hub for transportation and accommodation and students should contact the hub ITIs to register if they need assistance with transportation / accommodation.
While the JEE-Mains exams will take place between September 1-6, the NEET is scheduled for September 13. In Odisha, JEE Mains will take place at 26 centers in 7 cities.
The government will also ease movement restrictions for students and their parents during the exam period.
The Odisha government’s decision came a day after Patnaik spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that the exams be postponed. On Thursday Patnaik spoke with Modi defending the postponement citing the alarming situation of Covid, as well as the flooding in the state that has taken over many districts.
On August 25, Patnaik had written a letter to the union education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, suggesting that the exams be postponed.
Odisha’s decision to make logistical arrangements for the NEET and JEE exams came on a day when six opposition-controlled states filed a petition in SC requesting the review of an earlier order confirming the dates of the exams.
The petition filed by cabinet ministers from six states: West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Rajasthan said that SC did not consider the safety of students writing JEE and NEET exams ignoring logistical difficulties. The allegation said that when classroom teaching is suspended across the country, taking such a large-scale exam shows “non-application of the mind.”
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