Bhubaneswar: Approximately 57 percent of students from Odisha appeared in the Joint Entrance Exams(JEE) 2020 on Tuesday.
The examination was conducted in 26 centers across seven major cities of Odisha – Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore, and Dhenkanal.
The Indian Express stated, with 68 percent, Rourkela registered the highest turnout of students while Balasore reported the lowest with 45 percent. The turnout was 55 percent in Bhubaneswar, 61 percent in Cuttack and Sambalpur respectively, 54 percent in Berhampur, and 58 percent in Dhenkanal.
“As many as 165 candidates had registered for the first sitting against which 115 appeared while in the second sitting 112 out of 166 took the test. Eight students from outside have registered to avail hostel facility but none turned up for the first-day test,” said PC Rath, Nodal Officer for JEE Main, Rourkela, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
A total of 255 students took the exam in Sambalpur district across two centres at Baraipali and Majhipali.
The Indian Express quoted Umakant Raj, Additional Magistrate, Sambalpur as saying, “Prior to the examination, 10 students from other districts had contacted us for accommodation. We made all the arrangements at the Hirakud ITI hostel. A transportation facility was also arranged for them.”
A total of 1776 students were supposed to write the exam in Bhubaneswar out of which 793 skipped the test. A total number of 38,200 students had enrolled for the JEE exam from Odisha.
Talking to The Indian Express, a senior official dealing with the exam in Bhubaneswar said, “We are clueless over the low turnout which is unforeseen. The JEE exam (held for admission to hospitality and hotel management programs) on August 29, had recorded good attendance.”
The low turnout is majorly because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.