Centre releases protocol for conducting JEE main, NEET

The Central government has announced standard operating protocols for the national testing agency (NTA) ahead of the JEE (main) and NEET examinations, scheduled for next month.

According to the guidelines, all examination centres will be sanitised thoroughly before the exams to ensure maximum safety. The exam halls will be equipped with masks, gloves, hand sanitisers, and disinfectant sprays.

There will be no physical frisking of candidates this year and contactless verification of documents like admit cards. Students will be required to produce a self-declaration form stating they are not Covid-19 positive and do not exhibit any symptoms either upon reaching the exam centres. Students with body temperatures higher than the recommended limit of 99.4 degrees will be allowed to take the test only in an isolated room.

This year, the NTA will follow an odd-even scheme to implement social distancing. Candidates will be required to take the exam in different shift timings, for example, odd seat number candidates will take the exam in shift one and shift three, whereas even seat numbers will take the exams in shift two and shift four, enabling 50 per cent utilisation of the exam venue.

While JEE mains will be conducted from September

1 to September 6 across 605 centres for BTech courses, and 489 centres for BArch and BPlanning courses, NEET 2020 will be conducted on September 13 across

161 exam centres, for close to 25 lakh aspirants.