Gloves, sanitisers: National Testing Agency gears up for JEE exams amid Covid-19

The JEE (Main) would be the first national-level entrance examination amid the coronavirus outbreak. So, to safeguard aspirants from the virus, National Testing Agency’s (NTA) plan include 10 lakh masks, 10 lakh pairs of gloves, 1,300 infrared thermometer guns, hand sanitiser 6,600 litres, 6,600 sponges, 3,300 spray bottles, 3,300 cleaning staff and large amounts of liquid disinfectant, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Even though various state governments, organisations, individuals and students have raised their voices against the tests being conducted right now, the Centre has turned a deaf ear to the appeals and has decided to go forward with the JEE (Main) and NEET as scheduled.

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Over 8.58 lakh students have registered for JEE (Main), an online exam for engineering aspirants. The exam is scheduled to be held from September 1 to 6, while NEET, an offline examination is scheduled on September 13. The JEE (Main) exam will be supervised by 1.14 lakh invigilators.

Previously, 570 centres were allocated for the JEE (Main) exams, which has now been increased to 660 test centres to maintain social distance.

“Earlier, we had planned to assign two invigilators for 30 students. We have brought that down to two for 15. Hence, our requirement of invigilators has doubled to 1.14 lakh,” NTA Director-General Vineet Joshi told the publication.

The JEE (Main) test will be held in two shifts of three hours each. There will be 12 shifts in total with 85,000 candidates appearing for the JEE (Main) per shift.

“The first shift will be held from 9 am to noon and the second shift will start at 3 pm instead of 2 pm. This will give us time to sanitise the computer labs for the second shift,” Joshi added.

Candidates have been assigned time slots for reporting, in which a maximum of 40 students can report in one 20-minute slot.

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According to Joshi, the agency will be incurring an additional Rs 150 per candidate. Earlier, the agency would have spent Rs 400 per candidate. The overall Covid-19 preparation cost now stands at an additional cost of almost Rs 13 crore.

The blueprint has been crafted by Tata Consultancy Services in association with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Public Health Foundation of India.

Staggered, touch-free entry into the centre, Aarogya Setu app status verification, symptom checks, sanitisation before entry, touch-free security checks, document verification, and registration, multiple layers of hygiene norms, no-contact ID verification before, during and after exam, etc. are a part of the SOP.