JEE, NEET 2020: Students with more than 99.4°F body temp to take exam alone

The JEE, NEET 2020 examination is scheduled to take place in September amid the novel coronavirus pandemic in the country. For this reason, National Testing Agency (NTA) has released a number of fresh guidelines for candidates appearing for the competitive exams.

"NTA has carried out detailed deliberations to formulate guidelines for the various controls / measures that are required to be implemented on the day of the exam at each Examination Centres," the notification stated.

The fresh guidelines came after the NTA issued admit cards for the two exams scheduled to be held in September.

In addition to making hand sanitizers, personal water bottles mandatory during the exam as well as providing fresh masks to the candidates before entering the examination hall, the regulator also stated separate SOPs for students with more than 99.4 degrees body temperature who will appear for the exams.

"For those candidates who have a temperature higher than 99.4 degrees F, they will be taken to Isolation Room. All processes of frisking and document verification will be done after a period of 15-20 minutes. In this time their temperature may become even normal, if not they will be allowed to take the examination alone in a separate room," the notification stated.

The candidate will display the admit card, ID proof and other documents, if any for verification to the Invigilator on duty standing across the table.

Post-verification, the Invigilator will locate Candidate’s seat in the seat allocation list and inform candidate about his/her room number. At any point of time the exam functionary would not touch any document of the candidate.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the notifications do not specify the rules and SOPs for students who live in containment zones and need to appear for the examination.

To check out the detailed guidelines, click here.

As per the public notices issued by NTA, JEE (Main) April 2020 is scheduled from September 1-6, while NEET UG 2020 exam is scheduled for September 13.

Meanwhile, the chorus for postponing various examinations, including NEET and JEE, grew louder in view of rising Covid-19 cases. The crowd grew louder with political leaders such as Congress' Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee and others urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Education Minster to postpone the competitive exams during the pandemic.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since 16 March when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. A nationwide lockdown was imposed on 25 March to contain the virus spread.