Inconvenience to students as no exam centre set up in Punjab
LUDHIANA: More than 192 students from Punjab who cleared the stage 1 of National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) last year are a harried lot as no centre has been set up in the state for the stage 2 test scheduled to be held on February 14.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has set up examination centres in Chandigarh. Due to the pandemic, the exam scheduled on May 10, 2020, was postponed.
The admit cards indicating the name of examination centre will be uploaded in the third week of January on NCERT website.
Candidates from Punjab will be appearing at Chandigarh centres and the exam will not be held in Ludhiana as communicated earlier. From Ludhiana, there are 25 students, including two from government school, who have cleared the stage 1 exam. Their guides said this move will prove inconvenient for the students.
‘It will be difficult to travel to Chandigarh’
A student of Class 11, Parneet Kaur, who belongs to Dully village, said, “It is important for me to clear this exam as I need the scholarship amount to pursue higher studies. I have been informed by my teachers that the exam will be held in Chandigarh and this time, no centre has been set up in Ludhiana. Due to financial constraints, it will be difficult for me to travel to Chandigarh that is 100km away from my home.”
“The authorities should have set up an exam centre in Ludhiana as it will not be safe to travel through public transport considering the current Covid situation,” she added.
Another student, Ektapreet Kaur, who is pursuing nonmedical from Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU, stated that it was convenient to take the exam at a centre in Ludhiana.
“However, I will go to Chandigarh for the test,” she added.
Punjab liaison and nodal officer of NTSE, Rumkeet Kaur, said, “As per the previous communication from NCERT, an exam centre for NTSE stage 2 was to be set up in Ludhiana. But then, the authorities told us that the students from Punjab will have to take the exam in Chandigarh. We have no idea why the authorities changed their decision.”