More worried about 'wasting a year' than the virus, say students appearing for JEE

New Delhi: As students from across the Capital on Tuesday appeared for their Joint Entrance Examination (Main), the common sentiment among students was that of relief but not necessarily because they were unafraid of the raging pandemic but because they felt appearing for the exams under these circumstances was a better option than "wasting a year". Many students also said that the uncertainty of whether exams would be held was too stressful and that it was good that a final call had been taken - no matter what it was.

Students at centres across the city said that although they were apprehensive about appearing for this exam during a pandemic, they were satisfied with the safety precautions at their test centres. Proper sanitization and social distancing were maintained, most test-takers said.

Sejal, a B.Arch candidate from Delhi, who had also appeared for the January exam, said, "There were only 26 people in my classroom, whereas it can seat at least 60 under normal circumstances. Moreover, there were only 2 candidates in each row, with a 6 feet distance in between and all precautions were being followed."

At Delhi's Arwachin Bharti Bhawan Senior Secondary School in Vivek Vihar, all arrangements were made for students in view of the entrance examinations to IITs all over the country.

There were four layers of sanitisation that students had to go through before entering the examination hall. "Students are not allowed to wear their masks but the ones given by the institution. They can either throw their masks or give them to their parents. Their temperature meanwhile is also checked and they are frisked and their whole material sanitized," said an official outside the gate.

Sejal added that although the "exam should not have been held now due to the rising number of cases, what can we do? If the government says that it will be conducted, we will have to appear for it." Harshit, a candidate from Janakpuri, felt that he had put himself at considerable risk by appearing for the exam today, but chose not to skip it since that would cost him a year.

Phase 2 of the Joint Entrance Examination (Main), originally scheduled for April 2020 is finally being conducted across the country from Sept 1-6 after several delays, with over 8.5 lakh candidates appearing in 660 centres. The B.Arch and B.Planning JEE (Main) was held today while the B.Tech/B.E exam will be held from Sept 2-6.

Meanwhile, parents who had come to drop off their children were tensed but satisfied that the exams had taken place. "This has been such a stressful time for our kids, I am glad the decision came in favour of the examinations. Their whole year would have gone to waste if that didn't happen," Anita, a parent whose daughter had come to give the exam said.

"Covid is not going away anytime soon, but the future of my child should not be spoiled because of it", a parent of one of the students said. This was a popular sentiment across all parents, with one parent saying that since the Unlock phases began, everyone is already on the roads, travelling to work, etc., essentially arguing as to why then should this exam be

postponed.