Indore: Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main is starting from September 1 for admissions into the top engineering colleges in the country including Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). While it is a dream for most students to clear the entrance, this year has another manifold challenge for students living in nearby districts of Indore and other cities.
While public transport remains shut and fear of corona prevails, parents will have to bring their children to Indore for the examination alongside thousands of other students.
For most parents who are already facing a financial crunch, this trip will add another burden along with fear of coronavirus attack.
Over 9,000 students were sent back to their districts when lockdown was enforced to control the outspread of coronavirus.
Now, these students preparing for entrance examinations from nearby places need to return. Students from Khandwa, Khargone, Kalapipal, Bamnala, Ratlam, etc will come to Indore to take exams with their parents. Most of the students will come a day before and stay here with relatives to ensure that they do not miss the exam.
Students will be returning after attempting the examination. Many students will be travelling even 200 kilometres to Indore for the examination.
The number of people coming to Indore will be more than double as parents will have to bring their ward to Indore.
As shared by coaching class association, students come from Dewas, Shajapur, Ujjain, Ratlam, Mandsaur, Neemach, Jhabua, Khandwa, Khargone, Burhanpur, Nepanagar, Sarani, Rajgarh, Guna, and Sagar. Further, association shared that students from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh also come to Indore for preparation of entrance exams. However, these students choose their hometown region for the examination.
Siddhi, who is coming to Indore for the examination with her father Mahendra Singh Chauhan from Khandwa, will reside at her aunt's house in Pithampur a day ago.
"Examination is from 9 am but reporting time is 7 am. We will stop at aunt's house in Pithampur a day before,” she said. If the circumstances were normal, she would have taken the test without having to commute back and fro. “I was staying in Indore for studies so it was convenient for me to attempt exam here alone in normal circumstances,” Sidhi said.
There are no relatives in Bhopal, so Harshal Ujjalia, a resident of village Kalapipliya, chose Indore as center, will give the exam on September 3 from 3 to 6 pm. Though Bhopal is 125 kilometers away from his village, but he chose Indore as the center, which is two hundred kilometers away. Harshal's father Jitendra said, “Our relative stays in Indore, so we can stay there for a night, which was not possible in Bhopal.”
Khandwa resident Shyam Bode, who is preparing for the exam with a one-year drop, will come from a rented car since there are no other means of transport available to him. He will attempt JEE on September 2 at Dewas Naka Center. “I do not want to take any risk, so I will reach my uncle's home in Bhagirathpura a day before the exam,” he said.
